The Return of Recoome
by Xyex
Summary: -Sequel to Day of Darkness- COMPLETE
1. Homecoming

A/N: Welcome to Saga Three of Altered History! And I now have a Beta Reader too, my girlfriend. (w00t!) So this should have less spelling mistakes.  
  
Chapter One - Homecoming  
  
Yamcha rubbed the back of his head as he walked down the hall toward the communications room. His head still hurt like hell, like he'd been hit by Goku or something. Those Tomyu Flowers weren't as good as Senzu beans, that's for sure. As he walked he'd been so lost in thought he'd not even sensed anyone approach him, it wasn't until her hands were on his shoulders and neck massaging out the tension that he realized she was there. "You're still tense." Hotaru laughed.  
  
"Yeah well, getting knocked around like a kickball by a giant will do that." he said as he turned around. "And you're in much better shape than the last time I saw you."  
  
Hotaru shruged. "A little Tomyu Flower Extract goes a long way. Soaking in the stuff for five hours like I did goes even further. Come on, we don't want to be late or Mother will give another of her lectures." Hotaru rolled her eyes as she jogged off down the hall leaving a chuckling Yamcha to watch after her. He didn't blame her though, when Sora lectured it could last for hours. Still, he took his time.  
  
He spent the next few minutes of his walk looking out the floor to ceiling hall windows at the city far below the tall hill on which the palace rested. There were still a few columns of thick black smoke rising into the air here and there and numerous craters as well. But the Tanarian people were rebuilding already and they were going about it quite quickly. They seemed to be working on a natural high of sorts now, not that he blamed them. Recent events had helped bring closure to an old wound and had sparked new pride for them as well.  
  
A moment later he was walking into the communications room. Sora was busy at the far end of the room with several techs, probably repairing some damaged systems or something, while Hotaru sat at one of the com stations. He moved over to her and sat beside. "Line's busy." she said with a frown. "Wonder who they're talking too."  
  
Yamcha shruged. "Who knows. Probably offical bussiness or something..."  
  
Hotaru sighed. "I just hope the Dragon's powers can reach us out here..."  
  
Yamcha looked over at her and then wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer. "Don't worry, I'm sure Shenron has more than enough power to help us out."  
  
"Oh, we're through!" Hotaru cheered as the screen flashed green once and then showed Piccolo, Gohan, Bardock, Krillin, Chi-Chi, and Bulma.  
  
"Hey guys." Krillin said with a grin. "Man, you missed all the action. I'd have loved to have been there with you instead of getting beaten up here."  
  
"You too?" Yamcha asked. "Well, you wouldn't have had much better luck here Krillin."  
  
"What do you mean?" Gohan asked. "Did something happen?"  
  
Yamcha nodded. "Yeah, you could say that..."  
  
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ  
  
Four months ago:  
  
Yamcha stared out the window at the nearing planet before him. It still hadn't fully sunk in yet. That he was in space, that he was heading to another planet, and that that planet was the home of his girlfriend. He shook his head slowly at that. /From the moment I met Goku my life has been very odd to say the least./ he thought, then he caught a glimpse of Hotaru sitting at the controls. /A good kind of odd in this case I would say./  
  
He turned his eyes back toward the nearing planet once more. It was a strange mix of pink, blue, and puprle dotted with white clouds. Even from space it looked breathtaking. A few moments later the ship was decsending through the atmosphere and toward the planet's surface. He watched as they passed through the cloud layer and emerged beneath them giving him his first real look at the planet's landscape. If the view from space was breathtaking, this was simply beyond description.  
  
"Oh wow..." he breathed walking toward the window and peering down around. They were passing over rolling mountains now. They were covered with trees, some had pink leaves and others were purple with a few green trees here and there too. Directly below them a large and crystal blue river flowed calmly through a narrow valley going the opposite way they were.  
  
He turned his eyes up and to the right as something grazed his vision and saw a large bird of sorts. Its wingspan was at least a hundred yards and it was covered in orange and red feathers. Even though its body seemed like that of a bird it's head reminded him more of a bat. "What is that?" he asked looking over to Hotaru.  
  
The Princess smiled. "That's Max, he's a Dovi, one of the largest flying creatures on the planet."  
  
"Max? He has a name?"  
  
Hotaru giggled. "Yep. He belongs to my Mother now. My Grandmother found his egg when she was a little girl, the rest in his nest had been smashed and his mother killed by another animal. She felt sorry for him so she took the egg and hatched it and raised him. He's the only Dovi on the entire planet, they were native to our old world. He's the last of his kind..."  
  
Yamcha looked back out the window as the large Dovi swooped down and flew only a few feet above the tree tops and glided off over a small rise ahead of them. As the ship passed over it as well, Yamcha saw a large lake with many small boats on it. The beaches were filled with people enjoying the warm and sunny day. He noticed that, as they saw the ship, they began to stand and cheer. Obviously they recognized that it was Hotaru's. The Sai-jins apparently did a really good job of repairing it after recovering it from the debris of Namek.  
  
Her ship moved lower and closer to the large lake. As it did Yamcha caught sight of the sprawling city that Hotaru had described to him. She'd said the Tanarians built their homes into the forest changing it as little as possible and she'd been right. The homes were built up in the trees among the branches, some wrapping around the trees, some just sitting in the branches, and some seemed to be partly inside the tree as well. Wooden catwalks criss-crossed through the forest between the homes and stairs spiralled down to the ground level where a few small buildings sat here and there as well.  
  
As the ship began to settle on an empty section of beach Yamcha felt a handful of notable powers nearing from within the city. Those that had been on the beach had ranged from the power of an average Human to probably the six or seven thousand range. These three nearing powers, however, greatly dwarfed them. None of them were as strong as Hotaru was, at least when she was powered up anyway, and even without the Kinryoku, but two were stronger than him and the third was close.  
  
"That would be Mother, Sango, and Akira." Hotaru said standing from her seat. "Be ready for a lot of shouting... Akira's going to really dig into me... and then my Mother will probably have a go at one of her lectures..."  
  
"Who is he?"  
  
"Head of the army and my personal bodygaurd..." she laughed lightly at that. "Not that I need him anymore."  
  
Yamcha nodded. If the strongest of the three nearing powers was her Mohter than that meant that Hotaru was now the strongest Tanarian. He moved off to the side of the doorway as Hotaru walked up to it and took a deep breath. Yamcha felt the three powers land a few feet away from the ship as Hotaru opened the door.  
  
"Hotaru, so you finally decided to come back?" A male voice called out with a bit of an edge to it. "You had us all scared half to death! You were gone for so long we thought you might have been killed!"  
  
"And yet," Hotaru began suddenly straigtening up, a gesture Yamcha was familiar with now. Hotaru was about to dig in her heels. "You sent no one looking for me. Not even an automated scout ship. So obviously you weren't too worried about me. Not that it matters anymore, I no longer take orders from you anyway."  
  
"Now see here young lady!" Akira shouted loud enough he had Yamcha wondering if he was louder than Chi-Chi. "I am still in charge of you until you surpass my power, which I can sense you have not yet done, or until you are crowned in three months."  
  
"You should know what you're talking about before making assumptions." Hotaru returned, interrupting him, as she finally began down the stairs toward the beach. Yamcha waited a moment and then followed her, still unnoticed by Akira but getting a shocked gasp from the young woman on the man's right and the crowds around the ship, and a raised eyebrow from the woman on Akira's left. "Mother, we should prepare for a Sai-jin delegation to arrive in six months or so." she said looking over to her.  
  
Akira was wearing a blue GI with green trim, his silver hair was quite short. His green eyes carried the same anger as his voice. The young woman on his right Yamcha figured was Sango. She, too, wore a blue GI but with purple trim. Her hair was also silver and hung down to her knees, the longest Yamcha had ever seen, and her red eyes held a fire and a compassion to them. Hotaru's Mother, Sora, had on a simple dress that was also somehow elegant. Her hair, silver as well, was pulled into a braid and went halfway down her back. She had the same orange eyes as Hotaru. Yamcha glanced at the other people and quickly noted that everyone had silver hair.  
  
"Sai-jin delegation!?" Akira shouted. "You gave our location to the Sai-jins! Freiza has spies in their ranks, once he lea..."  
  
Hotaru snapped her eyes toward Akira once more. "If you'd pull your head out of the sand once in a while you would know that Frieza is Dead!" she said hotly. The statement caught everyone completely off guard, but Akira recovered quickly.  
  
"Nonsense. Only his father is..."  
  
"I was there Akira." Hotaru said. She decided to leave out the part about dying and then being revived and going back to Earth for simplicity's sake. "On Namek a Sai-jin that had been living on Earth and going by the name of Goku became a Super Sai-jin and killed him." Akira just stared at her speechless so she turned her attention to Sango. "Could you have a room prepared for Yamcha, he's going to be staying with us for a bit."  
  
That's when Akira noticed the man standing just behind her. "WHAT!? You brought an ou..."  
  
Hotaru's patience and fiery temper had reached the breaking point. Her aura flashed about her for a second as she turned to face Akira again. Her power climbed quickly but settled well below her full power, almost on par with that of Akira's. A second later it subsided and she sighed. "I'm not arguing with you anymore Akira. You can live in fear and with a closed mind if you like but I wont, and I wont let the rest of my people live that way either."  
  
Akira looked like he was about to say something when the woman to his left raised a hand and he instantly went silent. Sora lowered her hand and stepped foward. "Pardon Akira," she said gently. "Yamcha, wasn't it?" Yamcha nodded. "He's a bit hot headed and rather paranoid, but his heart is in the right place." She glanced at Akira for a moment before looking at Yamcha again. "Tell me, are you a Sai-jin? You're not wearing their normal armor..."  
  
Yamcha shook his head. "No, I'm a Human. I'm from Earth."  
  
"The same place as the Sai-jin that beat Frieza?" Sora asked. "Wasn't that the world Zarbon was going... oh, I see. This Goku must have been the one Zarbon was after last year."  
  
Yamcha nodded. "Yeah. That wasn't much fun." he said with a frown. "But thanks to Hotaru and Goku's family we managed to pull through." Yamcha had the same idea as Hotaru, explain the part about having been dead at a later time.  
  
"And Namek?"  
  
"I wasn't there." Yamcha said. "But I saw what happened. Hotaru and the others held their ground pretty well against Recoome until Bardock and Goku got there and dispatched the Ginyu force without any trouble. Frieza was a problem but, like Hotaru said, Goku transformed and beat him."  
  
Sora nodded slowly and then looked at Hotaru again. "You fought against Recoome?" she asked.  
  
"And Frieza, though I didn't do nearly as good against him."  
  
Akira snorted. "I felt that power spike." he said. "With your Kinryoku you're almost even with me, I am rather impressed by that at least, but you'd never last against the likes of Recoome."  
  
Yamcha couldn't help but laugh as he caught sight of the glare Hotaru was giving Akira. When she heard it she relaxed considerably. She hated how Akira had always been able to get under her skin. "For your information Akira, that wasn't the Kinryoku. I've learned to lower my power when I don't need it all, it comes in handy when you don't want scouters to detect you."  
  
Sora smiled lightly. "An impressive ability."  
  
Hotaru nodded. "Picked it up on Earth." she said.  
  
"So then you can do this as well Yamcha?" The Human nodded. "Would you two mind showing us how much power you do have? I'm afraid my curiostiy has gotten the better of me."  
  
Hotaru glanced back at Yamcha grinning. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she couldn't wait to see Akira's reaction. But at the same time she wanted to show off how strong Yamcha was too. So she gave him the nod to go first. He stepped off to the side, all eyes following him, and then clenched his fists. With a cry his aura exploded about him and his power shot up quickly. In a matter of seconds his power was nearly even with Akira's, much to everyone else's shock. And then he grinned. "Sanjuu Kinryoku!" he cried. His aura exploded larger and turned silver, his power jumping sky high.  
  
"Very impressive." Sora commented. "Hotaru's tried to teach the Kinryoku to many people but you're the first I've ever seen to actually master it."  
  
Yamcha relaxed, his power dropping back down qucikly. "I haven't really mastered it. Hotaru's a lot better at it than I am. And stronger than me to begin with." he said turning to look at her.  
  
She grinned at him and then turned her eyes toward Akira as her aura flared to life. She threw her arms and head back and let out a cry as her orange aura danced madly, her hair flapping about in the violent winds she was creating. It only took a few seconds to surpass Akira's power, and then Sora's, before she finally hit her natural maximum. As she lowered her head to look at Akira, Yamcha was already laughing at the look on the man's face. When Hotaru finally got a look at him she smirked. Obviously the fact that she was more than twice his power was something of a shock to him.  
  
She cracked her neck and lifted a few inches into the air clenching her fists and bracing her body. "Itsutsu Kinryoku!" she cried. Her aura exploded outward as it shifted to silver and a small crater formed beneath her from the sudden upsurge of energy. Yamcha looked out at the crowd as they all gasped and stared, and then cheers began to ring out from around them.  
  
Hotaru had told him a good bit about her people and about the powerful warrior race they had once been. The loss of their power had broken them at first and they'd settled into defeat. But in the past few centuries their pride in who they once were had returned and they'd begun to try and reclaim that power. He could see it clearly in the faces of the gathered Tanarians now, seeing the kind of power Hotaru had was definitely stirring their pride.  
  
"That's incredible Hotaru... how did you gain so much power in the last year?" Sora asked.  
  
Hotaru relaxed and her power dropped quickly soon returning to her normal resting level. "A lot has happened in the last year." she said. "And I'm still not as strong as you."  
  
Yamcha's eyes widened at that. Then he remembered, Sora could transform. The power he was feeling from the Tanarian Queen, if it was her max in her current form, was sixteen times less than her transformed state. The Human did some quick math of sorts, amplifying the power he felt from Sora sixteen times over in his head and swallowed. She'd be at least twice as strong as Hotaru's full power!  
  
"Well, let's head to the palace and you can tell me all about it, and about your friend." Sora said turning. "Sango, do as Hotaru asked and have a room readied for Yamcha."  
  
"Yes ma'am." Sango said with a bow before lifting into the air and flying off.  
  
Sora turned to Akira next. "I want you to begin preparations for the arrival of the Sai-jin delegation. I rather agree with my daughter, it's time we quit hiding." Akira frowned a bit but bowed and flew off as well. Then Sora lifted into the air and began to go as well with Hotaru and Yamcha following a good distance behind her.  
  
Yamcha looked over to Hotaru. "I don't get it, you're mother's power when transformed would be... unbelievable." he said. "How was the Ginyu Force able to survive when they attacked your first world?"  
  
Hotaru sighed. "I wasn't born yet when they came," she began. "But I've seen the videos and the reports and I've heard the stories. When the Ginyu Force attacked us my mother was a bit stronger than Akira and couldn't transform yet. She knew, as soon as she'd felt them coming, that our people had no chance." Hotaru shook her head. "Those that couldn't yet fight were gathered quickly and we began to evacuate them. My Father put Mother in charge of the evacuation, which meant she'd have to leave with the ships. It was has way of saving her. He also sent Akira with her. Our elites stayed and fought to buy everyone else time to escape.  
  
"Guldo managed to get past our forces and started killing people at random while Recoome did all the real fighting." Hotaru smiled. "My Father was powerful and he was able to hold Recoome off for quite a long time. It wasn't until my Mother's ship, and the other evacuees, landed here that they found out what happened. Ginyu's report to Frieza was intercepted by our systems." Hotaru's smile had vanished now and she closed her eyes. "Recoome had destroyed our forces by the time our ships left the solar system. Hours before they'd even landed here my Father was dead.  
  
"When Mother heard the report... so emotionless and formal... and it sunk in that my Father was gone..." Hotaru opened her eyes once more and looked toward Sora. "She broke through the magical barriers that seal our true forms and powers and she transformed. By then it was to late to save our planet or anyone that had been on it, and Akira managed to convince her not to try and challange the Ginyu Force in case Freiza decided to come for us himself..." 


	2. A Moment to Relax

Chapter Two - A Moment to Relax  
  
The flight over the Tanarian captial city had been quiet after Hotaru had finished her story. Yamcha had taken the time to see what he could of the city in the trees. He hadn't seen a single car or motorized vehicle of any kind. Most people were walking or on bikes. He'd also noticed that, for a race of warriors, a lot of the people weren't much stronger than the average Human. He'd have to remember to ask about that later. Right now his eyes had moved along the tree tops toward a distant hill that was slowly growing closer.  
  
Now that they were closer to it he could see the stone and glass structure that sat within the hillside. The only building he'd seen yet that wasn't made of wood. He figured it was the palace and that most of it was probably underground. A few moments away from the building still, he sensed a handful of powers come up from inside, stronger than those he'd felt within the city but lower than Akira or Sango's. He cast a glance at them and saw that they wore armor that reminded him of Sai-jin armor. The design wasn't quite the same, these were vest like in appearnce, but the similarity was still there.  
  
Yamcha also noticed that the strongest of the five that had come to greet them wasn't a Tanarian. That much was obvious by the blue skin tone, red hair, and yellow eyes. Considering how little Akira seemed to like the idea of other races being on the planet the sight was something of shock. Sora gave them a nod and said something to the alien as he moved up and flew alongside her. The man cast a glance back at Hotaru and Yamcha, nodded, and then descended into the trees. The other four flanked them and flew them the rest of the distance to the palace.  
  
They touched down on a small balcony area, their escorts landing with them. Two of the escorts opened the large doors in the wall before them and entered leading the way through a series of halls. Sora, Hotaru, and Yamcha followed with the other two escorts bringing up the rear. Yamcha took the time during the walk to examine what he could see of the palace. The walls and floor were made of stone and the ceiling was wooden. Down the center of the halls was a red carpet that worked as insolation from the cold stone floors.  
  
The walls were dotted here and there with tapestries and paintings which Yamcha took note of as they went. Several of the paintings drew his attention more than others as the obviously depicted transformed Tanarians, something he'd not yet seen. As they turned a corner his eyes fell on one of these paintings showing a look he'd not seen before. Hotaru noticed him looking at it and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "That's our true forms."  
  
Yamcha nodded and looked more closely at the image. It was of a young woman with red hair streaked with silver. The detail to the painting was great enough that he could tell all the areas not covered by clothes were covered by orange fur. There were tiger like stripes of red fur on her face, neck, and arms. While her face looked pretty much the same as the current Tanarians her eyes were golden and very cat like. A second later they were past the painting and entering a large room. It was the most advanced place he'd seen since landing on the planet, the room was full of computer consoles and communications equipment.  
  
"We've kept this stuff here and working all these years." Sora said looking it over. "Mostly just so we could listen in on the rest of the galaxy but I always hoped we'd be able to make contact with the other races again." She turned and looked at Yamcha. "Is it possible to contact your world?"  
  
Yamcha nodded. "Sure, the Sai-jin embassy is set up for long range space transmissions, well, it should be by now. If not then Bardock at least has the stuff Bulma whipped up."  
  
Sora turned around again and moved over to one of the consoles. "What's the transmission code?" she asked.  
  
"Umm... Alpha, Nine, Omega, Omega, Seven, Zero, Two, Six, Beta." he said.  
  
Sora nodded and input the code to access that frequencey. She paused for a moment before pushing 'transmit'. The three stood in silence, in fact the entire room had gone quiet now. Those who'd already been in the room knew that something was happening but weren't sure what. A moment later the large screen in the room flashed green once and then was filled with Bardock's face. "Ah, Yamcha, Hotaru, you made it safely then?"  
  
"Yes, thanks to your people's help." Hotaru said. "I must thank-you again for retrieving and repairing my ship."  
  
Bardock waved it off. "It was nothing. You are one of the reasons we're all still here, and a friend."  
  
Hotaru bowed lightly. "I'd like to introduce my Mother, Sora, Queen of Tanaria." she said with a slight motion.  
  
Sora noded to him. "I'd like to thank-you for keeping an eye on my daughter."  
  
Bardock grinned. "No problem your majesty." he said.  
  
He was about to say something more when another voice broke over the transmission. "Hotaru!" A second later Gohan's face popped up between the screen and Bardock's. "Hey! How are you guys doing?! Are you on your world now?"  
  
Hotaru laughed. "Hey Gohan. Yeah, we're on Tanaria now, and we're doing well. How are you doing?"  
  
Gohan grinned. "Better today, I finally managed to get away from the stack of books mom keeps dumping on me. She's insisting on making up for the time I missed training and fighting..." he sighed.  
  
Yamcha laughed. "Chi-Chi is probably the only person in the entire universe that you and Goku are afraid of."  
  
"Well she's got a frying pan!" Gohan called causing Bardock, Hotaru, and Yamcha to crack up laughing again. After that Bardock moved Gohan aside and held a... more formal conversation with the Queen and her daughter. After a few moments Bardock patched them into a three-way conversation with Planet Vegeta. While they worked on setting up diplomatic ties Hotaru had one of the palace guards take Yamcha to his room. He'd sprawled out on the large bed just to relax but was soon asleep. It felt like it had only been moments since he'd laid down that he was awakened by several loud cracks and flashes of orange and silver light through his window, and the detection of two high powers.  
  
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ  
  
Hotaru sat leaning back against the hard rock of the cliff face. Her eyes were closed as she let the cool night breeze blow across her, tossling her hair in it's movements. As she listened to the rush of the waterfall a few yards away she relaized how much she'd missed coming to her favorite spot. This had been her place to get away from the rest of the world for years, ever since she'd first found the small cave that wound it's way up inside the cliff and emerged on the ledge she was sitting on.  
  
Tilting her head back and letting it rest on the cool rock relaxed and did some thinking. A lot had happened to her in the more than a year that she'd been away from her world. A lot had happened in general for that matter. She'd gained quite a bit of power, a good amount of it thanks to the Namek guardian Azura. Had she not recieved that power-up she'd probably only be around Akira's level of power.  
  
She sighed as she thought back to when she'd first arrived on Earth. The large number of low powers she'd felt and the small number of rather high powers had been interesting. She still found it incredible that the Humans, normally rather weak, held so much potential once they learned to use their KI. Yamcha, Krillin, and especially Tien were all far beyond any other Human in terms of power and speed. And then, at the Budokai, even though she'd known to expect it seeing a child displaying control over KI was still a shock.  
  
Gohan... he'd been stronger than her then and was much stronger than her now. And yet he was just child. It was still hard for her to grasp that. She was so used to her own people that the thought of a child with KI control was odd, the thought of one with that much power seemed impossible.  
  
She smiled as her mind drifted forward in time to the year she'd spent on the Lookout on Earth, training with Yamcha and the others. She'd missed Tien and Vadora getting closer during that year but she had a good reason, she'd been so wrapped up in her own feelings the rest of the world had been practically empty. Bulma seemed like a nice enough woman but she and Yamcha didn't always get along too well, which was a good thing in her mind.  
  
Her smile turned into a grin and a little laugh as she remembered Bulma's comment about the Sai-jin prince when she'd first seen him. That would be a dangerous pair, their firey attitudes would be more than enough to scare off most people but she could see the two of them together. That is, if the Sai-jin Prince ever got over the fact that Goku was a Super Sai-jin. Otherwise he'd probably kill himself trying to get the power as well.  
  
She opened her eyes slowly as she felt a power nearing and quickly recognized it as Sango's. "Princess." the young woman said in greeting as she landed on the small ledge and then sat down beside her.  
  
Hotaru frowned. "No formalites up here." she said. "Especially from you Sango."  
  
The other nodded as she gazed up at the stars. "What was it like?" she asked after a few moments of silence. "Being on another world I mean. You got to see Earth, and Namek, and Planet Vegeta..."  
  
"They were beautiful worlds." Hotaru said with a smile. "But they weren't home. Earth was too plain, all the plants were green. Namek was backwards to Earth and still plain. Planet Vegeta had some sights but... What did Yamcha call it again? Oh, yeah, the 'Concrete Jungle' just isn't for me. The Nameks were more at one with their world than the Sai-jins or Humans but Namek was mostly open expanses."  
  
Sango nodded. "I've always wondered how they could live in cities like those. So far from the trees and from nature."  
  
"Most Humans and Sai-jins seem to have this self important attitude. The feeling I got from most of them was that since they were the dominant species of the planet they were beyond it. Their cities just serve to reinforce that feeling by seperating them from the wilds."  
  
Sango scrunched up her face. "I could never live like that."  
  
"Me either. It's too hectic, too noisy, and too cramped. This is what life is. Calm, quiet, relaxed, peaceful." Hotaru sighed smiling. "But Earth does have some good things."  
  
Sango glanced over at her and grinned. "Oh really? And I bet you brought one of them along with you, hmmmm?" she prodded. When Hotaru's face started turning red she laughed. "I knew it! I saw the way you looked at each other earlier, Akira's going on and on about an alien diplomat but I knew he was more than that." Sango's red eyes sparkled in the moonlight. "So... details, come on, spill!"  
  
"What! Hey! Nothing like that's happened yet!" Hotaru cried turning redder. "I've only known him a little over a year!"  
  
"Alright, alright... well, is he good kisser at least?"  
  
Hotaru mock frowned at her and then pushed her off the ledge. If Sango hadn't been able to fly she'd have fallen into the river below them. "Oh come on, you have to share! It's just not fair!"  
  
Hotaru rolled her eyes. "And why do you even care? I thought you'd sworn off men?"  
  
"Well now I'm back to men again, women are to bossy." she said sticking out her tongue.  
  
Hotaru's had shot up faster than Sango could see and grabbed hold of her tongue. "And why do I get the feeling that by women you mean me, hmmm?"  
  
"Ithwp othrip plthu..." she began as she tried to speak while Hotaru still had hold of her tongue. After a second the Princess let go and it snapped back into Sango's mouth only to be stuck out at her again a second later. "And of course I mean you." she said sitting down on the ledge again and leaning back against the rock. "Haven't been with any other women."  
  
Hotaru closed her eyes and rested her head back against the cool rock again. "I'm sorry about just taking off like that... I would have taken you with m..."  
  
"It's okay." Sango said. "After the fight we'd had I wasn't even sure you would talk to me again so I was very happy with at least getting that letter." She turned her head and looked over to Hotaru. "So, is Yamcha at least a good guy? And does he have a brother?"  
  
Hotaru laughed again. "No, no brothers. Though maybe I'll introduce you to his friend Krillin some time. But yeah, he's great." she sighed and sat up straight again. "He's funny and smart, but not smarter than me." she added with a laugh. "Which is always a good thing. And he's got a really caring soul too. I mean, he was willing to die to protect his friends..." she closed her eyes as the memories of his death in the fight against Zarbon drifted to mind again. Sure, he was alive now but it still hurt.  
  
She turned her head as she felt Sango's hand rest on hers. "Hey, he's alive so don't look so down." she said with a smile. Turning to look out across the forest again she sighed. "Now I just need to find me someone... Soooo, what's this Krillin that you mentioned like? Hmmm?"  
  
Hotaru laughed. "He's short and bald, he has no nose, he's strong, and he's nice. I didn't talk with him a whole lot, even during the year of solid training we went through preparing for Zarbon. But he's one of the few single ones left. Goku's married, Yamcha's taken, and Tien is too it seems." Hotaru suddenly burst out laughing. "Of course, there's always Master Roshi!"  
  
"Who?"  
  
Hotaru shook her head. "Just an old pervert, he's perfect for you!" Sango frowned and stuck her tongue out again. Then suddenly reached out and grabbed Hotaru before diving off the ledge toward the water. A few feet up she stopped and let go of the Princess dropping her into the cold river. A second later she shot back up again and spun around quickly throwing off the water. The Princess' orange eyes sparkled as her body shifted positions slowly and the other girl grinned.  
  
Sango's long hair flowed out behind her as her red aura flared to life and she shot across the open expanse of sky at her friend. Hotaru dodged deftly to the left around a right hook but was smacked with a knee to her stomach that doubled her over. Hotaru drifted back and powered up some to even their odds and then swung her right foot at Sango's head. The other girl brought her arm up and blocked the kick with a loud crack and then... vanished.  
  
Hotaru's eyes widened as she looked around for her. /Well, that's new... I can't sense her KI, where'd she.../ Her thoughts were cut off as a knee slammed into the back of her head knocking her forward. She flipped around and used the momentum to launch a kick at Sango's face but the girl vanished again. This time Hotaru didn't waste time looking for her and powered up to her max quickly.  
  
A second later she felt a blip of energy beside her and shifted to the right just in time to dodge a punch aimed for her face. She reached up and grabbed her arm and then flung her down and into the river before diving in after her. After both girls vanished beneath the shimmering waters the night went calm and quiet. Beneath the gently rolling waves of the river two shadows moved quickly with the current and toward the lake by Tanaria City. After a few moments the waters of the lake parted into locations exploding upward as a red streak and an orange streak shot into the sky and toward each other.  
  
As they neared Sango grinned. "Watch this!" she called as her muscles tightened and her aura flicked. "Nibai Kinryoku!" she suddenly shouted. Her aura flashed, vanished, and then flared back to life a vibrant silver color. The fact that Sango had just used the Kinryoku shocked Hotaru enough that she forgot to block the punch aimed for her face.  
  
After sailing backward several dozen yards she righted her self and grinned at Sango while licking blood off her lip. "When did you pull that off?" she called as she sensed several powers, large and small alike, begining to gather on the beach.  
  
"When you left I spent a solid month practicing the Kinryoku. Day in and day out. I vowed I'd be able to do it by the time you got back." Sango grinned. "Now, to even things up a bit more... Sanjuu Kinryoku!" Here aura exploded outward for a second as she shot across the sky above the lake. Hotaru's orange aura flared up once more and the two girls began to trade blows as they arced through the sky.  
  
As flashes of orange and silver lit up the night the gathering crowd grew larger and larger. It only took a few moments for Akira, Sora, and Yamcha to reach the location as well. "Oh, wow, look at them go." Yamcha said watching.  
  
"I didn't know Sango could use the Kinryoku." Sora said watching them.  
  
"Neither did I." Akira grumbled.  
  
There was a loud crack as their fists smashed into each others faces and they were flung apart. Sango spun around, came to a stop and held her arms out to her side making a cross shape. Red flame like energy began to swirl about her hands as she grinned. "Buuuuuuuuurning...."  
  
Hotaru stablized her self and saw the forming attack and smirked as well. Her body shifted in the air, her hands cupping at her sides, as blue energy swriled to life between her palms. "Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."  
  
"Flaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaash..."  
  
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."  
  
"Aaaattaaaaaaaaaaaack!" Sango thrust her arms foward and the energy shot off in a swirling wave twoard Hotaru, bathing the entire lake in a bright red glow.  
  
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Hotaru cried thrusting her arms out as well and launching a blue wave of energy. The glows mixed in the air as the attacks surged at each other above the lake turning everything bright purple. Directly off to the center of the lake the two beams collided and their ends exploded before mingling and then pushing against each other. The force of the swirling energy churned the waters of the lake as the girls grinned and poured on more and more power. After a few seconds Sango's beam began to overtake Hotaru's.  
  
"Sorry Sango!" Hotaru called. "But you won enough of our old spars, it's my turn to win! Nibai Kinryoku!" Hotaru's aura flared out and shifted to silver. The tips of the aura swirled about and mixed in with the Kamehameha Wave sending streakes of silver along it's length for a moment along with a swell of new energy. The extra power smashed into Sango's attack and forced it back rapidly. Seconds before it would have hit her she suddenly vanished again.  
  
"What the?" Yamcha asked looking around.  
  
Akira snorted. "Her Transport Technique." he said. "She can move to another location in a matter of seconds, great for last second dodges. But she says it's hard to maneuvor where ever it is she goes when not here or she'd reappear faster.  
  
There was a resounding crack from above again as Sango appeared once more and tried to kick Hotaru only to have the attack blocked and a fist smashed into her stomach. Sango drifted in the air holding her stomach for a second, her aura sputtering, and then she began to fall as her aura vanished. Hotaru dove down and scooped her up before she fell into the water and then flew over and landed where her Mother, Akira, and Yamcha stood and breathing a little hard. "Sorry about waking everyone like that..." she said.  
  
"Don't worry about it." Sora said as the applause and cheers began again. "I think they liked it..."  
  
"Hey, I know." Yamcha said perking up. "How about we hold a Tournament here on the beach?" he asked.  
  
Hotaru looked over at him and grinned. "You mean like that Earth Budokai?" she asked, to which he nodded. "Yeah, I think that's a great idea. Maybe some friendly competition would get our people to train harder too." She glanced down at Sango in her arms. "We'll figure out the rest later, I need to get Sango to the Clinic... her KI is still going down, I think my last punch may have been a bit to hard..."  
  
Sora nodded. "Then get going." she ordered.  
  
Hotaru nodded and blasted off toward the palace at top speed. 


	3. Royal Matters

Chapter Three - Royal Matters  
  
Hotaru dropped down quickly through the rooftop opening in the Clinic. The medics in the room turned to look, startled at her sudden entrance. Hotaru didn't wait for them to do anything though, she knew the procedure inside out. Moving quickly she laid Sango down on one of the beds and then ran over to one of the several large tubs in the room and began the pumps beside it. In a matter of seconds, a thick purple substance began to flow through several openings in the tub and fill it. That taken care of, she moved back over to where Sango lay and began to strip her.  
  
As soon as she had Sango's shirt off she realized just how bad the injury was. The girl's stomach was purple and swollen. "Oh damn... I must have caused an organ to explode..." she said in a bit of shock. She shook it off quickly and finished stripping her clothes. That finished, she picked her up again and carried her over to the tub and sat her down inside the still rising purple substance. "How did I..." she closed her eyes and she realized there was only one way her attack could have done that much damage. "She was overdoing it with the Kinryoku..." she said softly. "Her body couldn't handle the power she was generating..."  
  
She took a deep breath as the pumps shut off. Opening her eyes she looked down at her friend, covered from the chin down in Tomyu Flower Extract, and swallowed a lump in her throat. /If she dies... because of me... NO! Don't think that Hotaru. Damn it, I should have been able to tell that it was straining her body!/ She clenched her teeth, angry at herself, as she walked away from the tub. With injuries like hers, she'd be out for at least an hour, it'd be two or three before she was fully healed. Hotaru was just about to leave the Clinic when Yamcha descended through the opening in the roof.  
  
"You okay Hotaru? Your power kept jumping up..."  
  
"Just worried about Sango." she said glancing back again. "She's my best friend, we grew up together, always tried to outdo each other in everything... And now I may ha-have j-just..." She swallowed another lump in her throat as Yamcha walked over and wrapped his arms around her pulling her close.  
  
"Hey, don't worry. She seems like tough girl, I'm sure she'll be okay." Hotaru didn't say anything, just rested her head against his chest and cried. A few moments later he noticed that she'd fallen asleep in his arms. He picked her up and drifted up through the opening in the ceiling. /Hmmm, now where is your room anyway?/ he wondered looking down at her. /Hmmmmm, well, looks like I'm sleeping on the couch./  
  
With that he flew over to the main part of the palace and inside. He found his way to his room again in a few seconds and laid her down in his bed before covering her up. Then he moved over to the nearby couch and laid down to get some more sleep himself.  
  
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ  
  
Akira frowned as he watched Yamcha enter the palace again with Hotaru in his arms. He didn't like this... Human. And the current scene wasn't improving that any. He drifted down and landed on the balcony and then entered the palace as well. He followed Yamcha all the way to his room.  
  
After the door closed he moved across the hall from it and leaned against the wall keeping his senses locked on Yamcha and Hotaru. A few seconds after entering the room he felt Yamcha move away from her and then stop. Akira decided he'd stay right where he was all night.  
  
After around an hour had passed Akira sensed another power nearing his location. He recognized the power as Kavar's instantly and frowned. A moment later the blue skinned alien rounded a corner and started toward him. He was of average build and height and his hair was short and a little spikey. "Akira..." he said nodding to him. "Hotaru wasn't in her chambers..."  
  
Akira grunted. "She's in there with the Human." he said.  
  
"I could sense that much." Kavar replied. He knew how little Akira liked him and had long since given up on trying to change his opinion. Kavar turned and knocked on the door loudly a few times. There was a stirring inside and after a moment the door opened and Yamcha stood there yawning and rubbing his eyes.  
  
"Hmmm? What's up?" he asked sleepily.  
  
"I am Kavar, head of palace security." the blue man said with a light bow. "Sorry to disturb your sleep but I must speak with the Princess."  
  
Yamcha glanced back at the bed as Hotaru rolled onto her side. "She's really tired, I mean, she fell asleep on her feet... is it really that important?"  
  
"Afraid so."  
  
Yamcha sighed. "Alright..." he turned and walked over to the bed and shook her shoulder lightly. As her eyes opened slightly he smiled. "Hey, Kavar's here to talk to you." he said.  
  
"Kavar?" she sat up and looked around. "Where am..."  
  
"You fell asleep at the Clinic and I didn't know where your room was so I brought you back to mine."  
  
"Oh..." she slipped out of the bed and rubbed her head before walking over to Kavar. "What is it? I'm really tired..."  
  
"I am sorry to disturb you but we are already months behind in prepartions for your 20th birthday and your coronation. We only have two weeks left and months of work to do. Your Mother has given me orders that you are to make it the top priority and are to work on the preparations..."  
  
"Now? What time is it?"  
  
"Three AM."  
  
"Three!? This can wa..."  
  
"Your mother insists that we start now. It seems you have yet to visit the tailor for your gown and he wont be open the rest of the week. Since it will take at least ten hours to ge..."  
  
"Alright." Hotaru replied waving him off. "I'll be out at the courtyard in a few mintues."  
  
"Very well, I shall see you then." Kavar said with a bow before turning and leaving. Hotaru shut the door without even seeing Akira standing againt the wall. Hotaru went into the small private bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face. "The fun of being Royalty." she muttured. Turning she looked at Yamcha. "Think you could track Kavar down again and have him take you to my room? I need a change of clothes..."  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Thanks... get one of my GI's, Mother will complain but at the moment I don't care." With that she turned to her right and started the shower. Yamcha laughed as he walked from the room and reached out with his senses for Kavar. He found him down the hall with Akira. "Figures, just my luck." he muttered walking off down the hall.  
  
"I still don't trust that..." Akira was saying as Yamcha neared.  
  
"You barely know him Akira." Kavar said. "And you don't trust anyone that wasn't born here. I, for one, trust Hotaru's judgement. And so does her mother. And this Yamcha is quite powerful too, so you can't use that against him."  
  
"What? Why would I... Oh no, you have GOT to be kidding me!" Akira nearly cried, he sounded a bit shocked about something and Yamcha decided to slow down his pace and listen in a moment longer. "You mean to tell me that he's... that's outrageous! It would be one thing for him to be an ambassador but to be..."  
  
"He is, and I'd watch that tongue of yours Akira." Kavar said. "You may not like him but by this time next year he will most likely be king."  
  
"He's not even a Tanarian! Every member of the royale family has ALWAYS been Tanarian. And what about heirs? I mean, is it even possible?! Hotaru's an only child, without any heirs of her own the royal line would die off!"  
  
"The Queen is already having preparations made for the needed tests and exams." Kavar replied calmly. "Well know soon enough whether or not Tanarian and Human DNA is compatible. Though both the Queen and I are of the opinion that it is."  
  
"And how did you come to this conclusion?" Akira asked skeptically.  
  
"Simple. The child Gohan."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Gohan is a half Sai-jin half Human hybrid." Kavar explained. "And we already know that Sai-jin and Tanarian DNA is compatible."  
  
"But limited." Akira corrected. "Sure, Tanarians and Sai-jins can have mixed children but those children are always sterile. That would extend the line one more generation but no futher."  
  
Kavar sighed. "This is true, and we have no information as to whether or not Gohan is sterile or not. But, be that as it may, even if a child in any shape or form is not possible the Queen will still stand by her daughter in this. She told me she's far more proud of her daughter than she had believed possible. I, for one, can understand that. Hotaru stood up for what she thought was right, despite your attempts to keep her on the planet, and survived encounters with Zarbon, the Ginyu Force, and Frieza himself. I would say she has damn good judgement."  
  
Akira merely grunted and then walked off. Yamcha, in the mean time, was lost in thought. Here these two were already talking about the possibility of him and Hotaru having kids and... it was making his head spin. He shook it off and reached out for Kavar's energy again finding it a bit further down the hall from where it had been. Rounding the corner he jogged after him. "Hotaru wants me to get a GI from her room while she showers, but I don't know where it is..."  
  
"Alright, follow me then." Kavar said.  
  
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ  
  
The next two weeks were... hectic, to say the least. Yamcha was soon employed by everyone in town to help out with anything they needed him for. From helping to decorate the ballroom, to helping build the coronation stage on the beach, to catching fish and gathering herbs and fruits. The entire city was busy with work, they only had two weeks to finish up four months of work. But somehow, in some way, they pulled it off.  
  
They finished up the day before Hotaru's twentieth birthday and the coronation ceremony. That gave them all a single night to rest beforehand and then they'd be back at work taking down the decorations and dismanteling the stage. At least, that was the general thought amoung the people of the city. But over the past two weeks Hotaru and Yamcha had done a lot of talking and come to a decision. There wasn't much time left, but after a short dicussion with Sora, the plans were set. The Tanarian people would be in for a surprise the next day.  
  
Sango had recovered just fine from her injury. Hotaru's first reaction was to hug her, and her second to yell at her for being such an idiot. Akira then took his own shot at the girl for her stupid actions and then for not telling him she'd mastered the Kinryoku.  
  
Now, as the sun was setting for the day, Hotaru, Yamcha, and Sango were sitting up on the cliff face over the river. The girls sitting in the same spots they had been two weeks before and Yamcha on Hotaru's left. "So this is it." Sango said looking out over the trees. "Tomorrow you're crowned. Queen Hotaru..."  
  
"It's only in title." Hotaru said with a shrug. "Mom's still going to be ruler for a few more years at least. Tomorrow's only tradition."  
  
"It's still a big deal." Yamcha said. "No matter what you say."  
  
Hotaru nodded. "Yeah, I know. But it's the second ceremony I'm looking forward to." she said with a smile.  
  
"Second ceremony?" Sango asked looking over at them. "What second ceremony?"  
  
"You'll find out tomorrow Sango." Hotaru said with a grin. "Until then, you'll just have to wait, like everyone else."  
  
"Oh come on! Hotaru? Yamcha? What's going on guys?"  
  
Hotaru shook her head grinning. "Nope. Not telling." 


	4. The Big Day

A/N: Just to let you know something, since you're probably wondering, there is a LOT of lead up in this story. I have four months of events to cover, Hotaru being crowned, the 'secret ceremony' and a Budokai before Recoome even shows up. There's a few reasons for this. I'm trying to build on Hotaru's character some for one. And for two, I'm trying to remove the "Fight, travel/heal, repeat" pattern of my stories by inserting some interaction in there as well. Lastly, there was a typo in chapter one that I just now noticed. I said she'd be crowned in "three months" when I'd meant "two weeks". Don't ask me....  
  
Chapter Four - The Big Day  
  
It was a cool, clear, and beautiful day. There was a gentle breeze blowing in from the east and everyone was in high spirits. Outside the window the three women could hear the sound of laughing and partying and the drifting notes of music from the band. All it did for Hotaru was make her even more nervous as she gazed into the mirror at the gown she was wearing.  
  
It had taken the tailor nearly 12 hours to make it but it had been well worth the effort in Hotaru's opinion. It was a soft sky blue color with straps so thin they were invisible. It was fairly loose fitting and flowed all the way down to her ankles. The top of the dress merely ended simply but the bottom had folds of purple and white fabric in the shapes of flowers wrapping around it.  
  
"Would you stop trying to adjust it." Sora said. "It's perfect, there's nothing to worry about." She came over to her and turned her around. "Now, we're going to start in just a few minutes. Take a deep breath and relax, there's no reason to be nervous." Sora grinned. "Not yet anyway. That comes later." Outside the sounds of the band ended for a moment and then a new song started.  
  
"Anyway, I need to get out there and tell the band to end after this song." She turned to Sango. "You make sure she doesn't fidget herself right out of her dress."  
  
"No problem."  
  
"Good." Sora nodded and walked out of the room.  
  
"So, are you going to tell me yet?" Sango asked. Hotaru turned back and looked at her friend. She was in a simple ruby red dress that ended just above her knees.  
  
"Tell you what?"  
  
Sango rolled her eyes. "About what it is that's got you so nervous! I mean look at you, you're practically shaking your gown off of you and don't tell me it's the coronation. I know you better than that, to you it's just another matter of state. So, what is it? What's the big suprise?"  
  
Hotaru shook her head. "Y-you'll just have to wait like everyone else." she said nervously before taking a deep breath to calm herself. Her head jerked toward the window as the song the band was playing came to an end. She bit her lip and closed her eyes trying to relax.  
  
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ  
  
Sora stood on the platform waiting for the band to finish up their song. The stage was opposite where she stood so no one in the crowd even knew she was there yet. The breeze came through and ruffled the fabric of her dress. It was an 'inverted replica' of Hotaru's. The main gown was purple, the bottom ended simply, and the top was wrapped around with sky blue and white fabric in the shape of flowers. As the song closed out she stepped up to the microphone. The band's lead singer asked everyone to turn around and the loud noise of the party on the beach instantly died away to a low murmur of excitement.  
  
Her mind ran through the whole of her speech quickly making sure she remembered it all. Hotaru and Yamcha had told her all about their adventures on Earth and Namek, the course of events that had led them to where they were today. It had been an amazing tale that reminded Sora greatly of their peoples ancestors. Hearing that both of them had been killed in the course of it all had been numbing, even though Hotaru was back now the thought that she'd almost lost her daughter for good was painful.  
  
Sora waited a moment longer before she began. "Ladies and Gentlemen, today is a day of celebration, a day of relaxation, a day for the history books." she started. "I was crowned thirty years ago and I have sat as your Queen for twenty-six years. A lot has changed in that time. When I was born... it was on our home world. When I was crowned... it was on our home world. When my parents died... it was on our home world. When I became acting Queen... it was on our home world." She looked over the gathering of people along the beach wondering how many of them even remembered their old world.  
  
She paused and waited a moment before continuing. "We have been through much since I became Queen. A little over twenty years ago our world was attacked by the Ginyu Force and we were forced to flee. A once proud and powerful warrior race was forced from its own world with the threat of extinction. During that trip through space, a long six month journey, my daughter was born. Not on our home world and not on our new world but during the transition.  
  
"And it wasn't just a transition of worlds. It was a transtition of our people too. Her birth held more meaning than any before it. She marked the first of our royalty that would not be born on our world, that would not be crowned on our world, that would not be Queen of our world, that would never set foot on our world. I saw the resolve in the eyes of those with us then, the resolve to never let such a thing happen again."  
  
Her voice was laced with emotion as she spoke and the crowd had gone completely silent now. "It was that day, twenty years ago today, that our people decided we would not run again, we would not fall from our past any further, we would reclaim who and what we were... what we are! And then we got here. We settled down and started to build ourselves a new home. And the report came in. My husband, the King, was dead. The fire still burned in me and I transformed... but the fire had been squashed in most everyone else by this news.  
  
"We resigned ourselves to eke out a life here, to ignoring the universe, and to letting our warrior heritage fade even further. There were a few who fought against that for a few years but then, they too, gave in. But there was a person who would not let our past die. One who had never even walked on the world of our ancestors. One who fought against the defeatist attitude we had accquired at this second great blow to our pride. That person was and is my daughter.  
  
"Over the years she trained constantly, perfecting her skill so that come her eighteenth birthday and the advent of her power she would be ready to become a powerful warrior. No one had any idea what this drive of hers would lead her to or the powerful difference she would make. Not just on our world but across the entire galaxy, and all before she was even crowned.  
  
"Barely over five months after her eighteenth birthday her power had already grown by leaps and bounds... and she left our world in the silence and darkness of the night. She refused to merely stand aside and allow another world to fall to Frieza as ours had and she went to Earth to aid them in their fight. She arrived on Earth and entered in their tournament and won, defeating their strongest fighters, and then lent them her help fighting against Zarbon and his men a year later."  
  
She smiled, her eyes sparkling now as she continued. "She risked her life to help them save their world. And when that battle ended she went with their warriors to Namek to revive their fallen friends. On Namek however, things did not go smoothly. Only moments away from accomplishing their mission the Ginyu Force arrived."  
  
The crowd grew noisy again. They'd yet to hear the full account of what had occured in the time Hotaru had been gone. They knew she'd gone to Earth and Namek and they knew of the reasons for both trips but not of the actual events. The Ginyu Force on Namek with their Princess was a big matter, especially since she survived. "Guldo was defeated quickly." Sora resumed. "And then Hotaru, the Human named Krillin, and a half Sai-jin named Gohan, stood against the power of Recoome."  
  
The noise rose again, much higher than before. Hotaru had fought against Recoome! The man that had killed her father, the former King. She had fought against him and yet, she was here still. "Beaten but not quite dead the rest of their allies arrived and made quick work of the Ginyu Force. But that wasn't the end of the problem. Frieza arrived soon after. Still, Hotaru did not yield, did not run, did not hide. She stood and she fought him. Though the odds were against her she stood up against Frieza." Sora paused for a second. "And she paid with her life."  
  
The murmur of the audience rose into a loud roar now. They'd learned a few days ago the powers of the Eternal Dragons. What they hadn't known was that Hotaru had ever been killed, until now. "She sacrificed her own life in that battle to save the life of a young Namek who'd been aiding them by healing their injuries. I know that you all have been told about the powers of the Dragonballs, they are why Hotaru is here with us today. There's still more. The end result of that battle. A Super Sai-jin was born and... Frieza was defeated."  
  
Cheers resounded through the crowd at this news. Sora waited a moment until they'd calmed down a little before continuing. "This past year and a half or so has been a trying and proving time for my daughter. And I believe, with all of my heart and pride, that she is ready to be crowned. I have no doubt she will be the driving force that returns our people to the great warrior race we once were. It won't happen overnight but she has already set the process in motion."  
  
Sora paused again, a broad smile on her face now, as the people cheered again. "Ladies and Gentlemen." she said after giving them a moment to be loud. "Princess Hotaru." Sora moved aside and stood behind the simple throne on the platform as the crowd went silent and the band began the soft traditional tune played at every coronation.  
  
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ  
  
Hotaru stood fidgeting by the door listening to her mother's speech. At several points she felt her eyes mist up at her mother's words. As she'd recounted the events on Earth and Namek it all played back in her mind as clear as if it had only been yesterday. It was hard to believe it hadn't even been three months yet since Freiza was beaten, since she'd spent a few hours dead. Hearing it all recounted... it was hard to believe so much had happened to her.  
  
She took a deep breath as the cheers sounded out again, her mother's speech was almost over. She listened closely to her mother's final words listening for her to be called out for the ceremony. "This past year and a half or so has been a trying and proving time for my daughter. And I believe, with all of my heart and pride, that she is ready to be crowned. I have no doubt she will be the driving force that returns our people to the great warrior race we once were. It wont happen overnight but she has already set the process in motion."  
  
Hotaru's eyes widened a bit as they misted up and stung as the tears flowed slowly. "She's... she's proud of me?" Hotaru thought. "I... I wont let you down mom. I promise." She brushed the tears off her check quickly as her Mother called her out and the crowd went silent. She took one last deep breath and walked out the door. Rounding the corner she moved down the hall a short distance before emerging into the sun light.  
  
She had to conciously keep breathing as she moved toward the platform. Swallowing, she climbed up the stairs and moved toward the throne. Sora motioned and Hotaru sat down facing out at the crowd. Akira floated down and landed to her right. "Princess Hotaru." he said kneeling for a moment. After a few seconds he stood.  
  
Hotaru knew this ceremony inside out. Her Mother had gone over it with her for the last few days and walked her through the whole thing. Still, she was nervous now. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to talk through her emotions when the time came. Blinking a couple times she realized Akira was standing now and about to start speaking.  
  
"Princess Hotaru, do you solemnly swear to abide by the traditions and laws laid forth by our ancestors for governing of Tanaria and her people?" he asked, calmly, clearly, and loudly so that the crowds could hear.  
  
"I do." Hotaru replied in the same calm, clear, and loud voice.  
  
Akira remained silent for a long moment and then nodded. "You have my approval." he said taking a step back.  
  
As he did Sango landed on her left. "Princess Hotaru." she said kneeling. After a moment she stood again. "Princess Hotaru, do you solemnly swear to protect and defend our world and our people to the best of your ability?"  
  
"I do."  
  
"You have my approval." she said stepping back.  
  
From behind her Sora spoke up. "What is your pledge?" she asked.  
  
Hotaru took a deep breath. "I pledge to do everything I can to to keep my people safe from harm, to be fair and just in my rule, and to begin leading our people back to our former glory and restore us to our heritage." she said.  
  
Sora smiled. "You have my approval."  
  
Then the three spoke together. "You have been tried and you have passed. Do not stray from your path and the people shall follow you." As they finished Sora picked up the silver tiara like crown that symbolized that she was Queen but not actively ruling. Holding it over her head the three spoke again. "We find you worthy of the crown. Wear it proudly and bring it honor." Sora lowered her arms and placed the crown on Hotaru's head. As she removed her hands cheers sounded through the crowd again. 


	5. The Union

A/N: Remember, -this- is telepathy.

Chapter Five - The Union

Hotaru couldn't help it, she began to mist up again as she sat there with the crown upon her head. She'd never really thought anything of this whole ceremony before, it had always been just a formality. But now, being in the throne, wearing the crown, hearing her people cheer... it was overwhelming. And it was only the beginning. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment stretching out her senses. She ignored the powers of her mother, Akira, Sora, and her people and quickly found Yamcha's energy not far away.

"Not much longer now." she said softly. She felt her mother's hand on her shoulder and looked up. 

Sora smiled down at her, tears in her own eyes, and nodded. "You've grown up so fast." she said softly, only Hotaru heard of the din of the crowd. "Whenever you are ready."

Hotaru nodded and took another breath. She waited a few moments while the crowd calmed on its own before standing. She moved over to the microphone and waited a few more seconds as the crowd went silent. They fidgeted about all along the beach eager to hear what she had to say. After one last deep breath she began. "The Coronation is complete. However, today's events are not yet over. There is still one more ceremony to be held. The Union."

As soon as the words left her lips a hushed roar filled the air. No one had been expecting this. Sango glanced over at Akira and then back to Sora in slight shock. Only the Queen showed indication that she'd known. It took her a moment to grasp it all and then she was grinning like an idiot as she looked at her friend. /Well what do you know?/

Hotaru took a few moments before continuing. She wasn't waiting for the crowd this time, this time she was waiting for her heart to slow down. It was one thing talking about this with Yamcha and arranging it with her mother, it was something else entirely to be doing it. "In a few moments The Union Ceremony will begin. Today's Union will be unlike any before. Until today all members of the Royal Family were Tanarian. But today that will change. Today will be more than a Union of two people. Today will be a Union of two races. Today will be a Union of two worlds."

She went silent and turned her head skyward to where Yamcha stood atop a near-by building. That was his cue and he floated down to the stage slowly. He was dressed in the formal dress of the Tanarian king. The actual outfit was hidden beneath the deep purple and silver cloak wrapped around him. Under the cloak was deep purple shirt and pants with silver trim. Silver shoulder pads reached out an extra six inches on his sides. His feet touched down on the stage with a soft click and he turned to face the crowd as nervous as Hotaru.

The Tanarian continued. "Today Tanaria and Earth become one. We are their people and they are ours." She turned to face Yamcha who turned to face her and then both turned to face Sora who approached them.

It was Yamcha who spoke next. "With your permission Queen Sora I would like the honor to marry your daughter."

Sora smiled gently and nodded. "And you have it Yamcha. I have only known you a short time but I know you to be a good, caring, and honest man. It would honor us to have you in the family."

Yamcha bowed lightly following the outline Sora and Hotaru had given him of the ceremony. It was a short and simple procedure, little more than a formality. The Tanarains were more about actions then words when it came to important matters, the ceremonies only made things official. He took a deep breath as he reached out a hand to his side and grasped Hotaru's. His life had changed so much in less than two years.

Ever since they'd put a stop to Pilaf all those years ago up until a few days before Bardock arrived on Earth he'd envisioned himself with Bulma. Never had he pictured anyone else in her place. Not until he'd met Hotaru at least. So much had changed. His power was far greater than anything he'd ever dreamed, he was no longer with Bulma, he was on an alien world about to marry an alien Queen. It was still a lot to take in and as he did absorb it all he couldn't help but smile. He only hoped that Bulma found someone like he had.

Sora looked her daughter in the eyes for a long moment. She'd known that Hotaru would eventually grow up. That she would eventually become the ruling Queen of Tanaria. And that she would eventually marry someone. She just never expected it to come so soon. It seemed like only yesterday that she was holding her in her arms as she stepped foot on their new world for the first time. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts back to the present and she moved her eyes over to Yamcha.

She'd only known the Human for a short time. But in that time she'd seen how much he cared for her daughter. She'd seen a depth to him and his soul that was rare. A depth she'd only seen once before, in her own husband. She smiled at him and glanced down at their clasped hands. They were ready to begin. "Let The Union begin." she said before turning and motioning to a few people holding a couple of boxes.

Yamcha waited in silence. He knew what was about to happen. The one box held a specific stone that had been used in all royal Tanarian weddings since recorded time. He and Hotaru would both hold the stone between them and let their energy flow into it. From there... well, that was up to the stone. It would be a spectacle for the crowd at any rate. When it was done he and Hotaru would share a telepathic link. There would be a few more words and it would be over. Well, at least he hoped that's how it went. The other box held his crown. /Prince Yamcha... heh, who would have ever thought?/

Sora removed the stone from the box and brought it over to the two. Holding it up before them Yamcha and Hotaru released hands and took it in both of their hands. The stone was fairly large, bigger than softball, and was colored blue though it glowed a faint red. As they gripped it Sora took a step back and spoke. "You will pass your energies to each other through the Union Stone and it shall judge your conviction. You may have my permission Yamcha but now you must have Union Stone's as well."

Yamcha felt some comfort in the fact that only five people had ever been rejected by the stone in all the millennia it had been in use. And that it judged you based upon your emotions and purity. Sora had explained it to him. If he was true in how he felt about Hotaru then there would be no problems, and she believed he was. Glancing up into Hotaru's eyes they both nodded ever so slightly and began to channel energy into the Union Stone.

Sora, Sango, Akira, and the entire crowd watched intently as Yamcha's white energy and Hotaru's orange energy poured into the stone. It only took a few seconds for it to begin to react. The Union Stone began to glow a fierce red and in seconds both the Human and the Tanarian were hidden from view. Sora held her breath as a spark of blue surged about the glow before her, she'd never heard of such a reaction. Though, she'd expected it to be a little different since Yamcha was Human. Still, she was uncertain how this would end.

More and more lightning like blue energy arced about the red aura that hid the two. And then, in a blinding flash of blue, the stone went dark revealing both people once more. They were still looking into each other's eyes. The gathered people held their breath awaiting the results. -Yamcha, can... can you hear me?- Hotaru asked mentally, hoping that it had worked. He'd not been flung away from her as the others who'd failed had been but...

Yamcha grinned. -I can hear you loud and clear.- he replied.

Hotaru grinned as well and they handed the stone over to Sora once more. "We are linked." she said to cheers from the crowd.

Sora nodded and returned the Union Stone to its box and then taking out the crown. Yamcha knelt down on one knee as Sora walked over to him. "You're convictions have been proven sound and so, with this crown, I declare Prince Yamcha, husband of Hotaru and future King of Tanaria!" She lowed the crown and rested it atop his head before taking a step back.

Yamcha stood to even more cheers from the crowd. He turned toward Hotaru who instantly leapt into him and kissed him which drew more cheers from the crowd. After a moment she pulled back again and looked out of the sea of people and then up at the clouds. After a moment everyone had gone quiet again and she looked at them once more. "What's with the silence? Come on! Today's a day of celebration, let's have some music!" And just like that the party was back on again.

The newly crowned Princess and the newly made Prince stayed at the party mingling with the people until sunset came. As night fell upon the city the party began to draw to a close and the two retreated to the confines and privacy of the palace. "You know something Yamcha... we do still have one last formality to deal with."

"Hmm? What do you mean?" he asked as they walked toward Hotaru's chambers.

She turned and started walking backwards in front of him, a smile on her face. "Well, our Union is official and on the books and all now. But... that's all just formality. We still have to make it official." Yamcha raised an eyebrow and grinned before shaking his head and laughing. "Come on, I'll race you back to my chambers." she said turning and running off.

"Hey! No fair getting a head start!" he called chasing after her. 


	6. The Tanarian Budokai!

Chapter Six - The Tanarian Budokai!

The first couple days after the coronation and the wedding had been hectic to say the least. The party had gone well into the night, so much so it was still going when Yamcha and Hotaru got up at dawn of the following morning. That first day, what everyone had simply referred to as 'the day after', was spent cleaning up after the festivites and making final preparations around the palace. One of which included the royal painter dragging Yamcha off to a dark and dusty corner of the palace to make a royal portrait of him. But finally everything had begun to die down. And as it had died down Sora, Yamcha, and Hotaru had set to work preparing for the Tanarian Budokai.

"Wait, why do we need to have two seperate tournaments?" Yamcha asked confused as he looked at the tournament Time-line and the adjustments Hotaru said needed to be made.

"You haven't explained that to him yet?" Sora asked Hotaru.

Hotaru sighed. "No, it keeps slipping my mind. I forget that we're different than the rest of the races."

"What are you guys talking about."

"Well..." Hotaru began. "A Tanarian under the age of 18 can't control their Ki, so there's a much lower limit to their power. At the exact insant we turn 18 our Ki becomes... unblocked for lack of a better term, and we can start using it."

"Wait... You'd only turned 18 a few months before coming to Earth." Yamcha said. "You mean you'd become that strong that fast?"

"It's not that simple." Sora said. "A Tanarian's power shoots up the instant it's unblocked. Not much, usually only two or three times more than before. During that first month is when a Tanarian can increase their strength the easiest, kind of like compensation. And then it all tapers off, our increases in power come more slowly, more naturally. That is why a Tanarian's 18th Birthday is known as the 'Day of Awakening' because it is when their powers awake."

"Oh... I see, that is different. And I can see why we'd need two tournaments then. A first division for those under 18 and another for those over. Well, we can extend the tournament to last longer into the year then, put the other tournament second." Yamcha said thougthfully. "And we should bar people from entering both."

"Entering both?" Hotaru asked.

"Ya. Well. If a person's 18th birthday falls between the two tournaments they could conceivably enter both of them."

"Why not just run them at the same time then?"

"Too much hassle to manage two tournaments at once. Besides, I'm sure the people would rather not have to choose which tournament to watch. How about this, anyone whose 18th birthday falls after the end of the first tournament, probably the end of July, has to enter the first tournament."

Sora nodded. "That makes sense."

The three of them continued to work out the plans for the tournament for the next few days, establishing all the needed details. For this year they would simply use an island that rested in the ocean about a hundred miles to the east. It was about ten miles across and nearly deviod of vegetation and animal life. The entire island would be the ring for the second divison. The first division would be held on the beach.

It was soon obvious that while the first division ring could be the same size and design as the one on Earth, the second ring for the following tournament would need to be much larger. Building a stadium the size of the island being used this year was out of the question, something that big would take forever and use up a lot of resources. They finally decided that the island itself would be fine for a stadium, they'd just get some high end TVs and Hover Cams from Capsule Corp to keep track of the action.

With all the specifics set the announcement was made across the planet. The First Annual Tanarian Budokai would begin in two months! It was also decided that to keep things fair, Hotaru wouldn't compete in the tournament itself but would fight the winner of the tournament as an extra match. While Yamcha, Sango, Akira, and even Kavar all signed up for the second division, Sora decided not to enter. Two months later Tanaria City was packed with Tanarians from around the world drawn to the city to watch or compete. Those from the further cities were all excited to see the power of the Crowned Princess and the alien that was their Prince.

"Wow, would you look at that crowd." Hotaru breathed as she gazed down from the palace window at the beach off in the distance. The only place not covered by milling people was the areas reserved for the tournament. "Such a crowd..."

Sora nodded. "The Tanarian fighting spirit is coming back. Thanks to you Hotaru. It actually feels like we're returning to our former selves again."

"Come on, let's get down there." Yamcha said stepping through the door off to the side and out onto the balcony. "Everyone's waiting for the show to start." With that he lifted off and flew down to the beach, Akira, Sora, Sango, Hotaru, and Kavar following. A moment later they landed at the water's edge of the clearing and the people all went quiet. Yamcha smiled as he gazed out at the crowds. 

The previous day had established the process for the preliminaries. All those competing, a good five hundred and twelve, had been assigned numbers. There numbers would be called two at a time over the next several days. The winner of each preliminary match would move on to the next until only eight remained. Those eight would be the competitors in the actual tournament.

To make it go faster the area of the beach set aside for the tournament 'ring' had been sectioned off into eight parts, each only about a quarter the size of the ring on Earth. Eight preliminary matches would go at the same time so they'd cut through the ranks rather quickly. "Alright!" Yamcha called out. "Let the preliminary rounds of the First Division begin! One and Two are in ring one, Three and Four in ring two, Five and Six in ring three, Seven and Eight in ring four, Nine and Ten in ring five, Eleven and Twelve in six, Thirteen and Fourteen in seven, and Fifteen and Sixteen in eight! Remember, you only have five minutes. If you don't get a ring out or knock out by then we'll be watching and make a decision call."

They watched as everyone squared up in their ring. Hotaru raised an arm above her head and smiled. "Ready! Set!" A golden orb of Ki shot into the air and exploded. "GO!" And so, for almost two weeks, the preliminaries moved along. Yamcha was rather impressed by the level of skill a lot of the fighters showed, even if none of their powers surpassed what his had been way back at the 21st Budokai on Earth. And then, finally, the preliminaries ended and the tournament itself began. Those matches had been even more impressive as they moved along. 

As the finals were about to begin, Yamcha settled into his chair for what he knew would be an amazing match. The first competitor was being called a fighting progidy by the crowds. With powers this close it truely came down to skill to win and he'd certainly displayed that. He was only 14 years old and wore an outfit that reminded Yamcha of a grey Yukuta. He also had a grey headband that held his shoulder length silver hair against his head. His eyes were a vibrant almost glowing blue. Acording to the others of his village that had come he was the most skilled figther they had, even though not the strongest. And Yamcha agreed with them too, he was probably the most skilled fighter on the planet period. 

His opponent was a 17 year old girl with short cut hair and red eyes. She wore a white and black Gi that Hotaru had explained marked her as a member of the Light Order. They had come about a few hundred years ago and had been the driving force in re-establishing the old life, the returning of the old power. All the elites that had stayed and fought the Ginyu Force had been trained by the Order. Even Akira had been part of the Order before that assualt. The Order had even mastered a few moves that made use of energies other than Ki, like Hotaru's own Kuro Omoi Seichuu technique, which made use of spirit and mental energy. He'd also learned one last piece of information from Akira. The two were brother and sister.

"Alright..." the announcer for the tournament called out. "It's time for the first division finals! Kazuki versus Yuki!"

The two took up fighting stances across from each other, their feet digging into the sand. And then they pushed off and ran across the beach toward one another. A few feet apart Yuki leapt into the air, spun, and shot out a kick for Kazuki's head. The boy used his shorter height, even if it was only by a few inches, to his advantage and slipped beneath her foot. He thrust an arm down into the sand as he ducked and pushed himself under her and back up behind her. As he stood his elbow lanced backwards at her back and slammed dead into the center of it knocking her forward. Yamcha heard the crack from where he sat but had also seen the boy pull the blow at the last second, probably the only thing that had stopped it from shattering her back.

Yuki used the momentum to do a flip roll on the beach putting her back up on her feet and facing her brother. She moved her right arm quickly passing it by her face and then putting it completely horizontal in front of her chest. "Thunder Whip!" she cried straightening out her arm. There was a loud crack as it reached full extension, her finger pointing toward Kazuki. The air rippled and the sand blew away on a straight path for the boy.

Kazuki brought his arms up quickly and there was another crack as the rippling air slammed into his arms and drove him backward. "What was that?" Yamcha asked glancing over to Hotaru.

"The Thunder Whip takes a small amount of spirit energy to create a vaccum out of the high speed motion when the arm is moved." Hotaru explained. "The amount of spirit energy used determines the power of the vaccum created. It's one of the more powerful techniques the Order has developed. Used by someone with enough skill it could do a lot of damage."

Yamcha nodded as the boy lowered his visably bruised arms. He heard gasps from the crowd as Kazuki crossed both arms at a 45 degree angle in front of him, so that the outside of his arm faced Yuki. Even the girl looked shocked by the position. "Cross Wind!" the boy yelled whipping his arms through the air and down at his sides. The sand was thrown away violently as the air rippled savagely.

Yuki brought her arms up quickly but the rushing vaccum slammed into her before she had the chance to brace herself and she was flung backward and onto her back near the edge of the combat area. "Amazing..." Akira breathed from where he stood beside Yamcha.

"What was that one?"

Akira glanced down at him. "The Cross Wind is an advanced version of the Thunder whip. Dual vacums so close together they generate a third between them. The impact of the attack causes them to merge adding even greater force. It's an advanced move, without proper training it can backfire easily."

Yuki rolled onto her stomach and pulled herself unsteadily to her feet, a little blood running down her chin. She brushed it off with the back of her hand and then ran across the sand again toward her little brother. As she neared she moved her hands quickly before her in an unusual pattern. "Shika-Shidou." Akira said softly. "These two are quite good." Yamcha glanced up at him wondering what 'Shika-Shidou' was but then looked back down at the fight to see. A few feet away from Kazuki she stopped the motions with her hands and then launched a punch toward his stomach.

Kazuki jumped backwards to dodge and she thrust her left arm forward, palm open. Kazuki's eyes widened as something invisible slammed into his stomach and flung him backwards out over the lake which he then fell into. Cheers filled the area from the crowd as Yuki pulled herself to a stop and stood there hunched over and panting. As Kazuki's head popped up out of the water Yamcha looked over to Hotaru. "And what's the 'Shika-Shidou'?" he asked.

"The most advanced of mental techniques." Hotaru replied. "You channel spirit energy into your hands and encase it in mental energy. The hand movements are used to physically wrap the energies together. The pattern used determines the overall outcome, which can be almost anything. I've even used it to create water before. Yuki, however, used it to create an air pocket. Her first punch was a fake, the open palm had the energy. Thrusting her arm forward released the encased air forcing it forward. That's what hit Kazuki.

"The reason Yuki is so tired is that the Shika-Shidou, named after it's two inventors, uses up a great deal of mental energy. Physically she's just fine, but her mind thinks she's worn out." With that she stood up and raised an arm above her head to call for silence. "And with that last display of skill!" she called after the crowd went quiet. "Yuki is our first Champion of the Tanarian Budokai 1st Division!" Once more the crowd cheered. 


	7. The Second Division

Chapter Seven - The Second Division

Immediately following the close of the First Division tournament preparations began for the Second Division. It only took them two days to get everything set up and ready and then the prelim battles began. It took several days to cut the almost two thousand who'd come to the capital for the tournament down to only eight and Yamcha was very much looking forward to the last two days of the tournament. Day one would cover the quarter and semi-finals and day two would be the finals and the match with Hotaru.

Yamcha sat in one of the many restaurants of Tanaria city with Hotaru, Sora, Sango, and Akira watching the large screen that had been set up inside. The place, like everywhere else with the monitors, was packed full of people. The ship from Earth with the cameras had arrived the day before, just in time for the main tournament. Right now everyone was watching as the cameras moved about the island, focusing on the first two fighters of the first match. Kavar and a rather large Tanarain named Takashi.

A large 'bang' sounded over the island as one of the large flash bang's went off to start the match. Kavar and the large Takashi launched in toward each other over the narrow but deep canyon between them. Takashi suddenly reversed direction only a few feet from Kavar and thrust his arms out. The blue skinned alien was caught off guard by the blast of energy the large man had shot at him and was knocked backward.

Flipping over in the air he dropped to the ground digging his feet and hands into the rock to stop his backwards momentum. As he came to a halt and began to stand he looked around for signs of his opponent. Takashi found him first and slammed his knee into his back flinging him forward and then shot after him. Kavar spun around quickly as he still hurtled backward and lashed out a kick that smashed into Takashi's face knocking him away and then pulled himself to a stop.

Kavar crossed his arms over his body and his white arua flared to life around him. With a loud roar he threw his arms and head back and a shockwave of power washed across the island forming a small crater below him. His muscles expanded to twice their size, his eyes narrowed, a horn emerged upon his forhead, and he grew an extra six inches. Relaxing he lowered his head and gazed across at Takashi again.

"A transformation?" Yamcha asked in shock.

Sango nodded. "Yep, that's Kavar for you. Pulls out all the stops soon as he has the slightest trouble."

Yamcha nodded. When the match had started Kavar had only had a slight advantage over Takashi. Now, however, the scales were tipped a bit more in the blue alien's favor. The transformation didn't really yield that much of an increase though, the Kinryoku would have given him more power.

Back on the island the two fighters shot in at each other again and began to trade blows a few feet above the island. Each landed blow, blocked or not, sent shockwaves across the area the two were in, cracking the rocky ground beneath them. Suddenly Kavar landed a hard right hook across Takashi's jaw and then kneed him in the stomach. He followed up with an uppercut to the man's jaw that lifted him into the air. Floating up over him he then slammed his knee into Takashi's chest and drove him down into the ground. Takashi's own blue aura sputtered and vanished as his power dropped. Sora activated the microphone she had with her and called an end to the fight declaring Kavar the winner by knock out.

Hotaru turned to Yamcha and Sango as the two stood up. "You two give us a good fight, got that?" she said with a playful smirk.

"Sure thing." Sango said grinning. "Let's go, Princey." she said casting a playful glance at Yamcha. The Human laughed and followed her outside and the two blasted off to the island for their match, second of the tournament. As they flew they passed Kavar and the small medical staff returning with Takashi. Yamcha doubted there was anything actually wrong with the large man but it had been decided that everyone who was knocked out would get a "Tomyu Flower Bath" after their match, just in case.

A moment later the two landed on the island down inside a large canyon. "Don't think I'm going to be easy on you just because you're the Prince now." Sango said slipping into a fighting stance.

"That's okay." Yamcha replied doing the same. "I'm here for a fight anyway."

Both grinned at each other as the sky was suddenly alight with brilliant green and a thunderous boom echoed around them, the match had begun. They sized each other up for a moment and then shot in at each other and up into the air at the same time. They met twenty feet above the island and began to exchange furious blows. Yamcha slipped around a kick and then pounded his left fist into Sango's stomach. She recovered quickly and attempted to backhand him away but he ducked under that only to recieve a knee in the face.

The blow caused him to flip over in the air and he used the momentum to kick Sango in the jaw knocking her up and away from him. He instantly charged after her and managed to land a punch to her stomach before she recovered. The two became little more than blurs as they moved around over the island exchanging blows. Hotaru couldn't help but grin as the crowds in the city continued to cheer louder and louder as they watched the match.

Sango defelected a punch from Yamcha and then slammed a fist into his chest knocking him backwards. In the seconds she had to think she quickly braced her body. "Nibai Kinryoku!" she shouted, a silver aura surging to life around her. She shot in at him quickly but he'd recovered and seen her coming just in time.

"Sanjuu Kinryoku!" he shouted. A bright silver aura exploded around him and he dodged around a shocked Sango before slamming his foot into her head and sending her crashing into the island almost fifty feet below them. She was knocked through a rock outcropping, down through the island itself, and then out one of the cliff faces around the island and into the water. Yamcha relaxed and powered down as Sango floated back up out of the water pouting and Sora announced him the winner.

"You got lucky!" she called over in mock dissapointment. Yamcha shrugged and laughed as he flew over to her. "Next time," she said as he reached her. "I'll beat you."

"We'll see about that." he replied as they started back toward the city. On the way back they passed two Tanarians that Yamcha didn't know as they proceeded out to the island for their match. A few mintues later the two were back at the restaurant again just as the third match began.

"You were great Yamcha." Hotaru said as the two of them walked in. "You too Sango."

Sango shrugged. "He just got lucky." she said rubbing her head. "If I'd jumped up to my max right away like that I'd have won instead. He just caught me by suprise."

Yamcha smiled. "Well, I know you're better at the Kinryoku than me so I had to make the fight quick before you were powered up completely. I've not won any of the Budokais back on Earth, so I don't intend to lose this one."

"Well, I'd say you've already won. With me out you're the strongest left in the tournament, with the Kinryoku anyway."

Yamcha shook his head. "I wont use it in the Finals if I get there. Wont use it against Kavar either. Like I said, I'm here for a fight. Wouldn't have used it on you either if you hadn't first." He looked up as he heard Sora announce the winner of the third round. Akira stood and walked from the room and then blasted off for the island. 

Kavar saw Yamcha's eyes follow Akira out and shook his head. "Don't bother with him." he said causing Yamcha to look over to him. "Akira doesn't like anyone who isn't a Tanarian. I gave up trying years ago."

Sora nodded. "He's been like that ever since we were first attacked twenty years ago. He'd not trusted outsiders much before that, but it only intensified after. He'll come around in time, but Kavar's right Yamcha, it's not worth the effort to try and help it along."

"Ya, I suppose."

Everyone turned back to the monitor and a moment later Akira landed on the island where his opponent, a short female Tanarian by the name of Aiko, was already waiting. She wore an outfit that was distinctly familiar from the first division tournament. A white and black Gi. She was also a member of the Order. The others had watched her closely through the preliminary battles, since she was the only one from the Order in the second division. She'd displayed a lot of talent and skill so far and they were all expecting a rather good match out of this fight, even if her power was a good deal lower than Akira's.

Once more the loud explosion sounded and the match began. Aiko rooted her feet into the ground beneath her and took on what looked like a defensive stance. Almost instantly the ground beneath her began to vibrate and small pebbles lifted into the air. "What the..." Yamcha murmured as what looked like white mist began to float up from the ground and swirl around and flow into Aiko's body.

None of the others responded as they watched, for none of them knew what was happening either. Suddenly the girl's body jerked like she'd been shocked and she called out, "Wakusei Seiryoku!" Her voice echoed across the island as the swirling mist around her erupted into a shimmering blue aura unlike any Yamcha had ever seen before. It flowed up around her like a vapor and pulsed between blue and white slowly. And now that it was done, they all understood what Aiko had been doing, it was a strength increasing technique. And a rather impressive one at that, she'd gone from less than half his strength to just a little bit stronger.

As soon as her power had spiked up Aiko shot off across the island running full speed toward Akira. He went to launch into the air and she jumped up as well, spun around in the air, and slammed the heel of her foot into the side of his head knocking him back into the ground. She came back down and landed with a soft thud, her unusual aura trailing along behind her. Yamcha thought he'd felt something when she'd taken to the air but wasn't sure.

As soon as her feet touched the ground again she was running across the island for Akira once more. The man was pulling himself out of the small crater his impact had formed when she reached him and launched a kick at his head. He managed to dodge her kick at the last second and swept her feet out from under her. He then stood quickly and moved to drop his foot into her stomach but she rolled out of the way and launched an energy blast at him. Akira took to the air quickly to dodge the energy.

Aiko pulled herself to her feet and looked up at where Akira floated but didn't make to follow him. Instead she braced her body and the aura about her intensified. She clenched her fists and an odd sparking silver energy surrounded them, almost like her fists were shorting out. "Wakusei Taihou!" she cried thrusting her arms up into the air. The aura around her pulsed, it's base spreading out for a few feet around her like the energy was coming up from the very island itself, and then the sparking energy around her open palms exploded upward.

The energy surged at Akira quickly but the seasoned warrior was already prepared for the attack. Blue energy encased his hands as he reached out and caught the surging attack. The force of the blast drove him further into the air for a moment as he struggled to hold it off. And then, just as he was about to stop being pushed up, the blue energy around his hands exploded forth and shot down pushing Aiko's attack back at her and thrusting him higher in the air from the recoil.

As soon as she saw him deflect it back she stopped and jumped out of the way diving behind a rock. A second later the blast hit and a large chunk of the island exploded into a new crater. She stood and looked back up into the air again but Akira was gone. She suddenly felt him charging toward her from behind and turned just in time to get kicked in the stomach. He then grabbed one of her arms and pitched her into the air. As before her aura stretched down to meet the ground for a moment but as she went higher the thin stream of energy between her and the ground narrowed before breaking completely, the whole time her energy was dropping.

As soon as the connection to the ground broke her unusual aura blinked out of existence and her power returned to it's normal level. Before she even had the chance to react Akira was beside her and slamming his foot into her stomach and then he landed a hard left to her face that knocked her out cold where she floated. She began to fall toward the ground once more but Akira grabbed her before she hit and started back to the city as Sora declared him the winner.

"What.. was that?" Yamcha asked over the cheers.

Hotaru shook her head. "I've never seen that technique before, she must have invented it herself... I don't get why it gave out though..."

"I do." said Sora. "A very impressive skill. She was channeling energy from the planet to increase her strength. She could only control as much as her body can manage but, with that skill, she would have all of the planet's energy at her disposal. However, she needs to remain in contact with the ground for a perfect connection between her and the planet. Or at least close to keep a connection going. Akira must have realized this as well, that's why he threw her into the air, to break her connection." 


	8. A Score to Settle

Chapter Eight - A Score to Settle

Yamcha rubbed his neck as he landed on what he heard was now being called 'Battle Island' by those watching the tournament. Kavar was landing across from him, the first round of the Semi-Finals was about to start as the sun began to set. Kavar had thought about not even coming out for the match, their powers were too uneven for a good battle, but Yamcha had convinced him to at least try. The one Enhancer ring they'd managed to scrounge up on Earth, the very last of them, had finally gotten him to agree. Not that they knew what kind of power boost to expect Kavar to receive.

The blue skinned man reached up and activated the ring as his feet touched the ground. Instantly his power spiked up and Yamcha grinned. He'd need the Kinryoku to keep up with Kavar now, this would be a lot more fair. As the explosion sounded overhead to start the match Kavar was still looking himself over in wonder. Yamcha waited a moment and then launched in at him. "Nibai Kinryoku!" he cried surging across the island, a silver aura flaring to life around him.

Kavar looked up as he neared and then quickly brought his arms up and blocked Yamcha's punch. The shockwave shattered the ground beneath them and it collapsed falling down into darkness, a moment later a splashing was heard. Apparently they were fighting over a water filled cave. Yamcha floated there, his fist pressed against Kavar's arm, for a moment. And then both vanished. Suddenly the sky above the island was filled with explosions and flashes of light as the two fought each other.

A few moments later there was a loud crack as Yamcha slammed his foot into Kavar's chest and knocked him down through the ground and into the underground cave. The Human was about to chase after him when a flash of light erupted from the hole in the ground and he felt Kavar's power spike. He'd obviously just transformed, and with the extra power he went from being a little weaker to being stronger than Yamcha. The Human frowned slightly and considered using a stronger Kinryoku but decided against it for now. It'd make him too much stronger than Kavar and the fight would be too easy.

In a flash of silver Yamcha surged down into the cave. An instant later a thunderous crack rang out and shook the entire island. The ground for a hundred yards in either direction crumbled and fell into the cave around the two warriors as they continued to clash. Kavar launched a kick at Yamcha's head and the Human dodged to the side quickly. As he did a large rock fell between them and grinning he kicked it toward the blue alien. Kavar smashed it away with one arm and then fired a Ki blast with his other.

However, he soon realized he'd fired at empty space. Yamcha was gone. He looked around trying to see him or sense him but was finding nothing. And then he felt it below him. Turning and looking down he saw Yamcha floating inches above the water several dozen feet below him, hands cupped at his side and blue energy charging into his hands. "Time to try out a new move on you Kavar!" Yamcha called up. "Hope you don't mind!"

His aura flared up larger and brighter swirling the water around his feet and lifting it into the air around him in a thin mist. "Kameeeeee... Ryokuuuuuuu..." Suddenly the gathering energy pulsed, flashed, and turned silver. Yamcha grinned as he felt the power of his attack jump through the roof. Quickly he thrust his arms up at Kavar. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" The silver energy cupped in his hands shot upward faster than Kavar could see. A second later the attack slammed into him and flung him skyward, Yamcha ended the attack instantly not wanting to seriously hurt Kavar. As the silver energy beam faded into nothing, Kavar's power plummeted, and so did he.

Yamcha floated up into the air and caught him with one arm using the other to wipe the dirt off his face. He turned to the nearest camera and gave the victory sign as Sora declared him the winner. Still powered up he shot off from the island back to Tanaria City and the waiting medics. It didn't take long to get there, in fact, Akira was just leaving for the island as he landed. After deposting Kavar with the medics he returned to the restaurant where the others were.

"That was very impressive out there." Sora said as he entered the room. "You merged the Kinryoku with the Kamehameha, yes?"

Yamcha nodded. "Ya, I've been trying to do that with basic energy blasts for a few months. Actually started that while I was on King Kai's training. Just pulled it off a week ago and thought I'd take it up a notch with the Kamehameha."

"And you never told me?" Hotaru asked crossing her arms but grinning.

Yamcha shrugged. "Wasn't sure if I could do it. Wanted to try first. Works pretty good though, stronger attack without using up even more energy. And it makes it charge faster too. I can already charge a Kamehameha to twice my normal power, make it a Kameryokuha instead and..."

"Very nice." Sango said grinning. "Maybe you could have beat me without a ring out after all. And I have to say, I like the name. Not overly original, but it get's the point across, eh?"

There was a loud roar of cheers from the others in the room and those outside as well and everyone turned to look at the monitor. Akira had been knocked into a cliff by his opponent and appeared to be having some difficulty extracting himself. That's when Yamcha noticed the energy bands around his ankles and wrists holding him in place. The other man launched in at him and was about to slam a fist into his stomach when Akira suddenly opened his mouth and fired a stream of energy from it point blank into the other's face. He was flung backwards and then fell to the ground unconcious.

As Sora declared Akira the winner of the match he managed to pull himself free at last. Yamcha shook his head. "Man, I get all the hardest fights. Sango, Kavar, Akira, and maybe Hotaru too... I have the worst luck."

Sango laughed. "Well, you could have let me win you know. Then you wouldn't have to worry about it."

Yamcha was about to say something when he suddenly felt something. He couldn't tell what it was but it was pulling on his stomach, filling him with a sense of foreboding. The others noticed the confused and worried look on his face but didn't have the chance to say anything before he'd walked out of the restaurant. He looked around him in confusion. Something felt wrong, off, but... what? He closed his eyes and tried to focus. The more than one hundred thousand people around him were practically jamming his senses, but he could feel a knot of energy somewhere...

"WHAT!" he cried suddenly, his eyes snapping open and his head turning skyward. By now the others had come out as well and his loud cry of shock and fear had gotten a lot of people looking at him.

"What is it Yamcha?" Hotaru asked worried as Akira floated down and landed with them. "What's wrong?"

"Power... a really stong power! No... wait, there's five of them!" He swallowed as his senses finally locked cleanly onto the five powers. "Oh man... the highest one outmatches all of us! Hell, even with the Kinryoku the weakest one's still probably stronger than me!"

"Are... are you sure?" Sango asked trying to find what Yamcha had. The Human nodded. Now Sora, Hotaru, and Akira were checking as well, as were any other Tanarians nearby with the ability to sense energy. A moment later Sango's eyes went wide. "No way! That's... that's impossible! How..." She shook her head and then turned to look at Yamcha and the others. "Maybe it's the Sai-jins?" she asked hopefully. "The delegation I mean..."

Akira shook his head. "I highly doubt it. None of them are strong enough to be Cooler or King Cold either, and Cooler's elite team is only three men, not five."

"It's happening again, isn't it?" Hotaru asked closing her eyes. A moment later she opened them again, a determined look on her face. "NO! I wont let us be driven from another world! I'll head them off and stop them... somehow!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet." Sora said calmly, as a commotion began to spread through the city. They'd obviously sensed the rapidly nearing powers as well. "We're still not certain who they are. They may not be here to attack us."

"Well, if they are, they're in for a hell of a fight." Yamcha said as he looked around trying to determine where they might land. "They're going to be near here when they come down... I just can't tell where exactly..." He turned and saw Kavar flying toward them, fully recovered now.

"I felt them a few moments ago." he said landing. "But I was still too weak to say anything then." He looked out over the city. "I'll get these people to safety as best I can."

Sora nodded. "Come on, I think they'll be landing near the lake." The others nodded and the five of them blasted off toward the lake, thousands of eyes following them. A moment later they pulled to a stop near the lake and floated there following the energies nearing them. Looking up into the starry night sky they could see five 'stars' that were steadily growing larger.

"Individual ships." Yamcha said slowly. "Space pods?"

"Probably." Hotaru replied.

A moment later five streaks of blue light came surging down from the sky. They slammed into the beach throwing sand everywhere and forming five conneted craters. As the sand settled they got a look at the pods. All five of them were solid black instead of the normal gray and they had a symbol on their doors that was oddly similar to the Ginyu Force symbol, only upside down. The pods on either end of the V pattern the five had landed in hissed and the doors began to open.

The weakest power was in the left pod. The five warriors floating in the air watched as a gloved hand gripped the pod doorway and the owner of the hand pulled himself free. He was short, only about four foot tall, had black and white skin. What could be seen of his body under the the red and black armor he wore that bore the same upside down Ginyu Force emblem as the pods, was pure solid white. From his elbows to his gloves, and his knees to his boots, was pure pitch black. His face was white except for around his eyes which were blue. The hair on his eyebrows was red, as was the mohawk atop his head.

The pod on the right contained the fourth highest power. As it's door clicked open the occupant emerged. He looked like a mirrored version of the first guy, the skin color was simply reversed. His main body and his head were black, from his elbows to gloves and knees to boots were white with the area around his eyes white as well. The eyes themselves were red. He also had a mohawk but of blue hair instead of red. He also wore the same red and black armor.

Yamcha glanced at the others and then looked back down as the next two pods began to open. From the left emerged the third strongest of the five. He was about 5 foot 8, had light blue green skin and shoulder length green hair with blue eyes. His resemblance to Zarbon was apparent, but only in general appearnce. It was evident that though of the same race the two weren't related to each other. He too wore the same white boots and gloves with the red and black armor.

The fourth pod door clicked into the open position and the occupant emerged into the moonlight. She had long flowing white hair down to her waist, pink eyes, and light blue skin. She also had two small black horns pointing out of her forhead. She was about five and a half feet tall and the second strongest of the group, though still less than half the power of the strongest one. Like the others she wore red and black armor with the white boots and gloves.

And then the final pod opened. Yamcha heard Hotaru and Akira sharply draw in a breath as the final person emerged and stood. He had the white boots and gloves but instead of red and black armor he wore a simple white and brown one, also with the upside down Ginyu Force logo. Yamcha swallowed as he watched the large man activate his scouter, he was the only one with one. He'd not fought him on Namek but he'd seen him.

"Recoome..." Sora said, her hands clenching into fists.

"And he's gotten a lot stronger somehow..." Hotaru said. "Not even Ginyu was this strong on Namek... how...?"

Suddenly Recoome's scouter beeped and he looked up at them. He grinned stupidly as he saw them. "Oh, how nice!" he called up. "Hotaru, wasn't it?" he asked. "And you... I know you..."

"This time we wont be running!" Hotaru called down. "This time we will destroy you!"

Recoome laughed. "Destroy me? Oh, you crack me up girlie! Thanks to Lord..."

"Recoome!" the female shouted glaring at him.

He turned and looked back at her confused for a moment and then suddenly realization sunk in. "Oh ya, right..." he said. "Well, thanks to the people I work for my power is far greater than it was on Namek. You wont beat me!" Grinning he turned to look at the others. "So, who should go first?" he asked them. "Shall we play for it?"

The woman snorted. "You're dumber than you look, you know that? Why they ever put you in charge..." she shook her head. "Anyway, you stay here and deal with these five. The rest of us will spread out and start clearing the planet." At the looks on the faces of the others she smiled. "Ya, that's right!" she called up. "We're here to exterminate the lot of you! It's nothing personal you see, it's just that our boss wants this planet's resources, and we highly doubt you'd just let us strip the place of all of them so we're to kill you all first."

"You wont be killing anyone!" Yamcha called down as he dropped and landed in the sand at the edge of the beach, the others following him down.

"We'll see about that little man." she said smirking. In a flash of blue she launched into the air over their heads and into the city. A moment later the three others followed her leaving only Recoome behind.

Hotaru turned to chase after them but her mother grabbed her arm. "We can't split up." she said. "We need to focus on Recoome for now, he's the biggest threat. Kavar will have to get the others to safety." 

Hotaru nodded and turned back to face Recoome. She didn't like letting the other four have free roam of the planet, especially Tanaria City while it was full of visitors. /How many hundreds are going to die while we fight this big oaf/ she wondered gritting her teeth. /But Mother's right. We need to focus on the big threat first and take out the others later. Mother can handle them all after transforming. It's Recoome that's the threat./

"It's time to settle the score between us!" Sora called out. "Once and for all, it all ends here!"

"Yes!" Recoome cried back. "It all ends here, with your deaths!" 


	9. Battle for Tanaria

Chapter Nine - The Battle for Tanaria

"The only one who will die today is you." Hotaru returned slipping into a combat stance. Yamcha, Akira, Sango, and sora all did the same.

Recoome laughed again. "You want to fight me? Oh, that's funny! Did you forget how badly I beat you on Namek?"

"That was Namek, this is now." Hotaru replied as she braced her body. "Itsutsu Kinryoku!" There was a loud crack and flash as her silver arua flared to life around her, the sand blowing up and away as her hair flapped in the wind. "And here and now wont go the same as Namek!"

Recoome grinned. "You're right there! This time their wont be any Sai-jins to save you!"

"Enough!" Sango cried. "I was still a child the first time you came... I can't even remember that day but I still have memories of the trip here. Memories of the pain and sorrow you caused!" Sango's body tensed, her hands clutching into fists as she stared at Recoome. "Thanks to you all I have left of my parents are the stories of others! They stood with Hotaru's father so that I could live... I wont let their sacrifice be in vain! Yottsu Kinryoku!" Another crack sounded as a silver aura flared savagely to life around Sango.

"If you want this planet..." Yamcha said, his eyes narrowing. "Then you'll have to go through me, through us. And I'll let you know now, beating us wont be easy! We won't lose to the likes of you, with or without Goku you're going down! Sanjuu Kinryoku!"

Recoome laughed and shook his head. "Big words for such a little man! My power is over a million now, I'm even stronger than Captain Ginyu was! You can't defeat me!"

A light blue aura had formed around Sora as Recoome spoke. Her eyes were closed and her head turned down slightly. "Perhaps." she said after a moment, softly and gently. "There is a possibility that we will not make it through this night. Those of us here in the city may not see the next sunrise." She raised her head slowly, her eyes opening and locking onto Recoome. "But we wont just roll over and die. We will stand. We will fight. And we will take you with us!"

Yamcha turned his head and watched with interest as Sora's thin blue arua flared up looking like a spotlight beneath her feet. Her braided hair blew madly above her head in the breeze as her eyes began to glow orange. Slowly her blue aura shifted orange as well. And then the glow spread from her eyes and engulfed her entire body. Yamcha could feel her power increasing and Recoome's scouter was reading the buildup of energy as well.

The now orange aura around her swirled and pulsed as it snaked up from the ground into the sky. A moment later there was a flash and the aura seemed to shatter setting glittering bits of light away from Sora's body. Yamcha swallowed, even tranformed Sora wasn't as powerful as Recoome. Her appearance had only changed slightly. Her eyes were now solid orange, her hair was still silver though it was now tinted blue slightly, and she had a tiger like orange stripe reaching from under her hair, across her cheeks, and under her eyes.

Still, Yamcha couldn't help but smile a little. "It's like a Super Tanarian." he said softly.

"Super Tanarian eh?" Sora said glancing over to him and then smilling. "Sure, why not? It's better than 'Transformed State 1' at any rate."

"I'm not sure how much help I'll be in this battle." Akira said softly as he shifted his stance and looked over to Sora.

A moment later she nodded. "You're right... and Kavar will need help protecting the people of the city. Go, we'll deal with Recoome."

"Yes my queen." And with that Akira turned and blasted off into the city to find Kavar and the others that had come with Recoome.

Recoome watched him go while grinning and then turned his eyes back to the four still standing before him. His scouter still had each of their powers listed. /The guy's the weakest, only just under a hundred thousand. Miss "Attitude" on the end is almost a hundred and fifteen thousand. The Princess is nearly three hundred ninety thousand. And the Queen... Just over eight hundred twenty thousand. Heh! They think they can fight me/

The large warrior flexed his arms and arched his back stretching. "Okay, I've let you spout now, it's time to have some fun!" His eyes roamed over the four warriors as he crouched and then suddenly shot in at them. Sora moved to block the punch she saw coming but wasn't quick enough and Recoome's large right hand connected with a crack to her face sending her flying backward. With a grin and a flash of blue he shot after her, his aura trailing behind him and three streaks of silver giving chase.

Hotaru thrust her arms forward as she flew and fired an orange orb of energy which slammed into his back knocking him down into the ground only a foot below him. He slid through the sand and then off the beach and through the dirt of the forest for nearly a hundred hards before stopping. As he started to stand back up Sango and Yamcha appeared above him and dropped quickly slamming their feet into his back and driving him back into the ground.

With a laugh he pushed his arms against the dirt below him and pushed. He stood without trouble flinging both people off of his back. Before they even saw him move Recoome had cloeslined them both catching their necks in the crook of his elbow. He flew straight ahead for a few feet before passing between two trees slamming both Sango and Yamcha into and through them before stopping. They continued forward several yards before falling to the ground unconcious, their silver auras fading away into nothing.

Recoome turned to go find his other two opponents and was met by the feet slamming into his face sending him sailing through the trees, out across the beach, and then out over the lake before falling down into it. Hotaru and Sora shot up above the trees and then shot down toward the lake where they'd seen Recoome go. There were two simultaneous explosions of water as the two plowed down into the lake. A moment later there was a blinding flash of red from within the lake, the surface bulged up, and then the water exploded upward into the sky.

At the base of the quickly refilling lake stood Recoome, arms and head thrown back, grinning. In a flash of blue he shot up after Sora and Hotaru. The two women regained control of their flight just in time to block a large punch. The three of them floated there like that a moment, and Sora sensed Akira's power sky rocket. Then the three of them began to move in a flurry of punches, kicks, and last second blocks. The night sky over the lake lit up with flashes of orange, blue, and silver as thunderous cracks resounded across the city.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Akira cast a glance back as the others began to fight Recoome but soon returned his attentions to the city before him. His eyes widened in suprise as hundreds of dots began to glow throughout the city, and then hundreds more followed. A second later gold, orange, red, blue, white, and purple streams of energy were surging up rapid fire from the city toward the four attacking warriors floating in the sky. Akira then grinned is he realized what was happening. /The warriors from the tournament! Yes! These four may be stronger than all of us but... I don't think they can take three thousand people at once/

"Kavar!" he called out as he reached the battle. "Call up the guard! It's time we give these four a proper welcome!" The female in the group turned toward him and scowled but Akira wasn't done with his orders. Looking down into the city where the tournament fighters were he called down. "All Tanarians capable of fighting and willing to help, up here with us!"

"You still don't get it!" the woman called. "You've already lost, just make it easier on yourself and..." she stopped as people began to fly up through the trees around them. Ten, fifty, a hundred, two hundred, five hundred, a thousand, in a matter of moments the sky was full of Tanarians, their auras pulsing about them. As she looked around more warriors descended from above in vest like armors, Kavar floating down beside Akira, already transformed and with the Enhancer still on.

"It's tradition among my people..." Kavar began crossing his arms. "To know who we're about to fight with. I am Kavar Osonda, last of the Taraganins and head of the Tanarian palace guard."

Akira smirked as he crossed his arms as well. He knew Kavar was up to something... "I am Akira Sakamoto. Son of Kenta and Hitomi Sakamoto, brother of Queen Sora, and head of the Tanarian army."

The woman smirked as she looked at them. Such defiance and determination in their eyes. This would truly be a good battle, their numbers made up for their lack of power... She was looking forward to this. "I am Erzix." she said simply. She pointed toward the Zarbon look alike and said, "That would be Wyver." She then motioned to the two black and white guys. "They are Omta and Pinda."

That's when Akira felt the power building up down on the ground. He cast a quick look down and saw the girl from the tournament, Aiko, with that unusual aura of hers around her. She was also obviously charging an attack, one that Akira recognized as the one she'd used on him. Only this time it was far more powerful and still building in power. /Incredible, I had no idea there were fighters of this level on Tanaria... Well, I can't let myself be outdone... now can I/ he thought grinning.

He turned his eyes back to Erzix and the other three and his grin grew. "Well, now that we're introduced I should warn you, you still don't know what you're dealing with."

"Oh really?" Erzix asked. "Well, let me tell you I know exactly what I'm up against. You see, unlike that oaf Recoome I can sense power levels, so can these three. Like that girl down there charging that attack. Very impressive, but not enough."

Akira raised an eyebrow. He'd not expected that. But it didn't matter. "It wasn't her I was referring too." he said. He moved his arms and crossed them before him and then began to quickly move them in an unusual pattern before him. "Allow me to introduce you to the greatest move of the Light Order, the Shika-Shidou." Suddenly his arms stopped, held straight out at his side, palms pointing up, all but his index and middle fingers closed, those two were pointed up. "Shika-Shidou..." he closed his two fingers as he called the last part. "Kyoujaku!"

There was a spark of dark blue from his chest and then his aura exploded savagely to life around him. His muscles and chest bulged, his neck thickened, and veins stood out across his body. /The Kyoujaku's dangerous to use for too long, especially the way I'm going to use it... but if defeating these four means my life, then so be it/ He thought as he crossed his arms over his chest again. His dark blue aura flared and pulsed as it swirled around him and then shrunk into his body, his hands now moving through a new set of motions.

Kavar's eyes widened. "Akira! Don't!" he cried pulling back. Erzix raised an eyebrow wondering just what the guy was up to but wasn't worried.

"Shika-Shidou..." he breathed softly. "Iryoku!" He cried as his eyes snapped open, pure white, as he threw his arms and head back screaming. His dark blue aura exploded outward and then shifted to pure bright blinding white. As he relaxed and Erzix got a good look at him again, his muscles had returned to normal but the veins still stood out across his body. His eyes were still solid white and seemed to be glowing. His hair was floating up over his head and glowing white as well as it flapped leisurely. His now white aura danced about him punctuated with sparks of blue and gold electricty like energy now and again.

Erzix floated backward in shock and disbelief... "What... but... how! His... his power!"

Akira answered her in a voice much deeper than normal. "The Kyoujaku technique of the Shika-Shidou doubles the user's power by forcing it to overproduce energy. It's very taxing on the body. The Shika-Shidou Iryoku is similar but different. It uses spirit energy to push through to the power hidden within, the power of our sealed away forms, and pulls it out by force allowing for up to a 20 fold increase of power, mine is only ten. However, it's far more taxing on the body as it takes constant spirit energy to sustain.

"Added on top of the Kyoujaku, while making me 20 times more powerful than normal... it's almost certainly death, even if I were to stop using it right now. The damage has been done, I probably wont see the morning. But neither will you! Aiko, fire!" he cried.

That's when Erzix remembered the girl below. As she turned to look down the girl called out... "Wakusei Taihou!" The energy blast exploded forth from her hands and surged up at the weakest of the four, Pinda, who was caught entirely offguard. Before he'd even gotten his arms out to block it, the attack slammed into him and tore off through the sky and into space taking him along with it and incinerating him along the way. As the attack died off Aiko stood there panting.

While still shocked at the loss of one of their own, Akira shot in with a burst of white and slammed his fist into Erzix's jaw sending her sailing away. "Kavar, deal with the other two!" he called back as he shot after Erzix again.

By the time Akira caught up with Erzix again she'd recovered and brought her arms up to block his incoming punch. It cracked against her arms and sent her flying backward again but she recovered faster this time and charged in at him as he came at her. The two over the palace and their fists cracked into the others, their punches meeting halfway between them. They pulled back from each other and then vanished.

A half dozen explosions sounded through the sky as flashes of white and blue light up the night like day. There was another loud crack and Erzix was sent hurtling toward the ground. She slammed through several trees and then down nearly ten yards into the ground before stopping. Meanwhile Akira had gathered energy into his hands. As soon as he felt her stop ploughing into the ground he began to unleash a rapid volley of white Ki blasts. Each one exploded savagely as it hit the ground blasting out a larger and larger crater and sending debris flying everywhere.

After a moment Akira stopped the rapid fire and held his arms above his head charging a large blast. Once it was ready he brought his arms down and fired the large Ki blast. A second later it slammed into the ground, the energy bulged, and then it exploded violently, the wind whipping past him and launching rocks over a mile into the air. As the debris began to settle he floated there panting searching for some sign of his opponent's Ki. /Damn... I hope I hurt her good... I'm pretty spent now... and my power is starting to slip. Ah! Damn! My... chest... hurts.../

He floated down to the ground as his white aura faded slightly. As his feet touched the ground he dropped to one knee still panting but trying to regain his energy. That's when he felt Erzix again. She was definately weakened by the assualt, but it wasn't enough, she now had the strength advantage.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

As Akira blasted off after Erzix Kavar motioned to the warriors with him surrounding the two attackers still floating there. Omta and Wyver gazed about them cautiously looking for a sign of attack. "This isn't going as planned." Omta said. "This was supposed to be an easy mission... Can you feel those powers fighting Recoome?" Wyver nodded. One of them was actually stronger than Erzix. That hadn't been in the planet report...

"So, who exactly do you work for?" Kavar called. He was trying to buy a little time while the warriors got ready. They were all fighters, yes, but most of them weren't part of the military. They'd never been trained to deal with a situation like this.

"That's none of your business." Omta replied.

Wyver smirked as he flicked some of his hair back over his shoulder. "I'd tell you to ask someone in the afterlife but there wouldn't be anyone there who'd know anyway, except others of the army who'd fallen, and you wouldn't get an answer from them anyway."

Kavar tilted his head slightly and thought about that for a moment. "Then it's not one of the four... er, three Empires." he said after a moment. "Princess Hotaru said there was some kind of big conspiracy going on. So then, you work for Raven and whoever she's with then?"

Both Omta and Wyver looked shocked that Kavar knew that much. "Impressive." Wyver said crossing his arms as he recovered. "Yes, Queen Raven is one of our employers."

Kavar said nothing as he continued to think. This Raven had to be fairly powerful, strong enough to evenly match Cooler at the least, but then, Recoome was a little over a third Cooler's strength now. So if he was only a flunky... then Raven was probably about Frieza's level of power, her unknown mate would have to be weaker than Cold though, or they'd just show themselves and attack head on. "Why exactly are you here?" he asked at last.

"Resources." Omta replied with a shrug. "Don't know exactly why they need so much of everything, not exactly in the loop you know. But there's at least a dozen teams out there going from world to world gathering resources, we just happen to be the newest."

Kavar frowned a bit but was about to say more when a series of explosions began in the near distance. He, Omta, Wyver, and the floating warriors all turned to look as Akira rained Ki down upon his opponent. Noticing that the two before him had their guards down now he motioned quickly to the others and then charged in swiftly, as did several dozen others. Before the two aliens knew what was coming there were nearly a hundred people attacking each of them.

There was a loud cry and a shockwave of power from Wyver, the stronger of the two, which blew everyone away from him, including Kavar. The Taraganin's eyes widened in shock at the Anubian's new look. His arms and legs had swelled to massive size, as had his chest, and his face was now quite different. Larger, lacking a nose, and rather ugly. Kavar cursed under his breath, he'd not expected a transformation. Not one of this power at least... things were not looking good. 


	10. Downfall

Chapter Ten - Downfall

Suddenly Erzix came charging out of the small dust cloud that still remained looking very unhappy. Akira didn't have the chance to react before Erzix's fist slammed into his stomach. He crumpled over her punch and just floated a few inches off the ground as she pulled her hand away from him. Then her knee shot up and slammed into his face launching him into the air. Erzix then jumped up and slammed an open palm down into Akira's chest knocking him back down into the ground.

He started to pull himself back up to his feet but a sudden sharp pain tore through his chest and he gasped spitting up blood. Erzix smirked down at him as his arua flashed and vanished, his power plummeting like a rock. "So, that's all you've got?" she asked smugly. "Not very impressive... And here I thought I'd be getting a real fight out of you." He just glared up at her.

Then suddenly a foot slammed into Erzix's head catching her off guard and knocking her away. Aiko landed between Akira and Erzix. "Hurry!" she called up. A moment later two others had landed and were picking Akira up. By the time Erzix was on her feet again the two Tanarians had already left with Akira between them.

"Lucky shot girl, but you wont get lucky twice." Erzix growled wiping some blood off her chin.

Aiko brought her arm up and clenched her fist, a smirk on her face. "Actually, I think I will." she said. "It's time the Order earned it's keep. I'm going to turn you into dust... well, no. WE are going to turn you into dust!" Erzix's eyes widened and she glanced about. There were other Tanarians around her now, all wearing the Gi of the Order. "Kazuki, Daichi, Etsuko, Katashi, Takako, Kohaku, Nobu, Kuro... Now!" she ordered.

The Tanarians that encircled Aiko and Erzix all thrust their arms out toward Aiko. Aiko held her arms out at her side and looked skyward, eyes closed, as sparkling green and silver light began to flow up from the ground and from the Tanarians toward her. A moment later one of the Tanarians forming the cirlce collapsed, and then another and another. Erzix was confident she could handle whatever the girl had for her, and she was curious to see what was going to happen, so she just stood with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face.

Five minutes later only Aiko and Erzix still stood. Around Aiko was now a sparkling green and silver mist like aura. Lowering her arms and head and opening her eyes Aiko's smirk grew. "Thank-you, my friends." she said glancing at them all. "You've sacrificed yourselves to give me this chance... so that I can give the rest of the people a chance." She turned her gaze back to Erzix. "None of them had even reached their Awakening yet... they never really had the chance for a life..." her eyes moved over to Nobu, the youngest of eight at only twelve. "They gave their lives so that I could destroy you, to save those they care about... I won't let them down!"

"Give me you're best shot girl." Erzix sneered.

"With pleasure!" she cried hunching over and gathering in all the energy around her. The energy flowed into her body and then down into the ground around her and snaked out all the way to the edge of the circle marked by the fallen bodies. That's when Erzix finally felt the energy coming not just from Aiko but the glowing ground beneath her feet. Her eyes went wide as Aiko threw her arms and head back. "Wakusei Kujo Taihou!" she cried.

Erzix uncrossed her arms as the ground shook and the area began to glow intensly. She was about to take off when the entire area suddenly exploded savagely destroying everything for a hundred yards in either direction and gouging out a large crater. When the smoke and dust settled there was nothing left of Aiko, the eight members of the order, or Erzix.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The Tanarians that had come up to aid Kavar and his guard watched in disbelief as the Transformed Wyver batted Kavar around in the air like he was nothing. There was a loud crack as Wyver's fist smashed into Kavar's face and sent him sailing down into the trees. A loud crash sounded as he slammed into the groud blasting out a crater with his body. The head of the guard held his arms out, blue energy gathering quickly. "Attack!" he called out, as the blast fired.

Suddenly the sky was alight with streams of energy as the Tanarians fired at Wyver and Omta. The two aliens weren't caught off guard by the attack this time and began batting away, dodging, or just ignoring the attacks as they came. Suddenly Omta vanished and a series of loud cracks and flashes began through the group of attackers. That assault ended as the Tanarains began to look for the attacking alien. One by one he landed a devastating blow to each of them, killing them with just the one hit.

Suddenly a stream of energy surged up from below and Kavar slammed his foot into the side of Omta's head, seconds before the alien did the same to one of the Tanarians. The blow knocked him to the right but he recovered quickly and lashed out with a punch of his own that sent Kavar sailing toward Wyver. The Anubian thrust his foot out and slammed it into the back of Kavar with a loud crack. The blue skinned guard's eyes widened in pain and shock and a moment later he fell back to the ground below him, unmoving.

Wyver turned toward where Erzix had been for a moment and shook his head as he changed back to normal. "I never thought she'd bite the big one on a mission of this level."

"These Tanarian's are nasty little devils." Omta replied as he gazed around at the ones still ready to fight. "Come on, let's finish clearing this city and then go report to Recoome."

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Yamcha sat up groaning and put a hand to his forhead. "Man... what the hell hit me?" he muttered. Suddenly the night sky blazed with orange light that seeped down through the trees casting everything in an eerie glow. As he looked up he felt Recoome, Sora, and Hotaru fighting above the trees and recent events came flooding back to him again. He looked off to his right and saw Sango still laying on the ground breathing slowly. "She's alive, good."

He made to stand and walk over to her but as soon as he put pressure on his left leg an intense pain tore through his body and he collapsed again. Looking down at his leg he saw a long and rather thick piece of wood had been punched clear through his leg. Gripping the top of it in one hand he closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. He channeled Ki into his hand and a second later the wood was burning.

Sango was brought back to conciousness by the sounds of Yamcha's screams. Opening her eyes and looking over she saw him holding his leg, the screams dying off. Sitting up painfully she called over to him. "You okay?"

He nodded and stood, careful not to put too much weight on his injured leg. "Ya, I'm good." he said looking at his make shift attempt at healing the wound. He'd managed to burn out all the wood and any possible chance of infection would have been burned away too. The heat had also cauterized it so he wouldn't have to worry about bleeding to death. A little Ki work and he'd even managed to speed up the growth of skin to seal the hole, though it was still marked by a scar. /Just another one for the record./ he thought glumly before looking up through the trees again.

"I can still feel Hotaru and Sora fighting up there..." he said after a moment. "And... is that Akira?" he asked glancing toward the city.

Sango turned her attention that way as well and felt the high power that was definitely Akira's signature. "That's him... but his power... He must be using a Shika-Shidou technique, there's several of them that increase the user's power. They've all got pretty nasty drawbacks though, that's why Hotaru developed the Kinryoku."

Yamcha nodded slowly, not really sure about everything Sango had said but he got the gist of it. He turned his attention back up to the battle overhead as he slowly drifted up through the trees. A moment later he emerged into the dark night sky and noticed that the pale blue moon was now up over the horizon. /Man, we must have been out for at least twenty minutes.../ he thought shaking his head.

He glanced over as Sango floated up beside him. "You think you can do a Kamehameha?" he asked. He and Hotaru had been teaching her the move while they'd been preparing for the tournament. "We can try and merge our attacks, it may be enough to at least hurt that walking tank up there." Sango nodded and both of them powered up their Kinryoku's again.

Floating side by side they cupped their hands beside them. Blue white light began to gather between their palms, but Yamcha's soon shifted silver. Sango glanced over at him as she felt the power in his attack growing by leaps and bounds. Even after these past few months his power still suprised her. She turned her eyes back up toward the fight as she continued to charge her attack.

Up in the sky Recoome had just slipped another punch from Hotaru and was about to slam a fist into her stomach when his scouter suddenly went off. He stopped in mid punch and turned to look down. He couldn't make out who was floating over the trees, only the silvery blue glow. /Two powers... neither one enough to hurt me... nothing but flies/ Recoome turned to continue the fight but found that one of his opponents was missing. He started looking around for Hotaru but Sora charged in to fight him again.

Yamcha glanced to his left as Hotaru appeared beside him and started charging a Kamehameha of her own. "We could use all the power we can get..." she said as her muscles tensed. "Well, here goes nothing... Mutsu Kinryoku!" Her muscles swelled to an even larger size as her aura grew thicker and brighter yet again, her power jumping up to six times her normal power.

"Now!" Yamcha yelled as Recoome backhanded Sora away from him. The three of them thrust their arms up toward Recoome and their attacks exploded forth savagely. The wind from the energy whipped down passed them and began to tear at the trees uprooting several of them. Yamcha's silver energy stream surged straight up toward Recoome, the twin blue streams of energy spiralled around it for a moment before merging into his.

Recoome turned his attention down to the nearing energy stream and his eyes widened slightly. He thrust his arms out and down and pushed against the triple attack that pushed him higher and higher into the sky. "What... I.. can't..." he narrowed his eyes as his aura flared up around him and his power began to climb.

"What, no way!" Hotaru cried as Recoome's power continued to build. /At this rate he's going to double his power! He was holding back this entire time and mother and I could barely touch him/ Suddenly Hotaru felt her mother beside her and glanced over just in time to see Sora thrust her arms skyward as well sending a stream of orange energy up to merge with the silver-blue of the Kamehameha's.

Recoome let out a loud roar as his aura flared and then flashed and the four attacks were deflected out into space. Yamcha, Sango, and Hotaru watched it speed off in shock. And then suddenly Recoome was there and slamming his knee into Sora's stomach. They could all feel that he'd expended a lot of his energy deflecting that attack, but he was still stronger now than when they'd first started fighting him. Sora doubled over his knee and then he backhanded her down through the trees.

He then charged towards the next nearest person and slammed his fist into Yamcha's face sending him sailing away as well. Turning again he went to attack Sango but Sora came charging back up out of the forest and landed a kick to Recoome's head. The large alien jammed his arm backwards slamming his elbow into her stomach and then turned and grabbed her by the foot. Before he could do anything more however Yamcha was back again and slammed an energy encased fist into Recoome's face.

The large alien released Sora and slammed a fist into Yamcha's stomach before uppercutting him up a few feet higher into the air. He then spun around and slammed a foot into Yamcha's chest knocking him away. Vanishing he reappeared behind the Human and kicked him up into the air. Sora, Sango, and Hotaru watched panting as Recoome continued to pound on Yamcha, all three of them looking for an opening to try and help. 

Suddenly Sango blasted into the air and caught Recoome just as he was about to land another blow on Yamcha. She slammed a fist hard into his face but he barely even noticed her. However, he turned from Yamcha who began to fall toward the ground and scowled at her. "That's it, it's time you all start dying!" he cried.

"Sango!" Hotaru shouted as she shot off into the air. She was only about halfway there when Recoome's energy encased fist smashed into and through Sango's stomach. She came to a sudden stop, eyes wide in disbelief, as the large alien whipped his arm out to the side which sent Sango's lifeless body sailing out over the lake and then down into it's cold depths. Hotaru's entire body shook with sadness and anger as she stared at the point where Sango had entered the lake.

Slowly her eyes moved to where Yamcha lay unconcious once more, on the beach. And then to where her mother floated, a look of sadness and fear on her face, and then off into the city as a large explosion lit up the night sky. A spark of orange lightning like energy arced across her body as she floated there, followed a second later by another. And then sparks of orange began to apear in her silver aura. Her fists clenched as she turned to face the grinning Recoome once more, the sight of Sango's death etched in the back of her eyes. With a cry she charged up toward him leaving a trail of orange energy in her wake. 


	11. Meal Time

A/N: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, this is it. Not the best battle ending I've ever written, but it's certainly not the worst. Hope you enjoyed the story, look forward to the next... eventually... collapses as he sees all the inprogress stories on FFnet and on his computer.

Chapter Eleven - Meal Time

Recoome grinned as Hotaru charged him. Her orange aura pulsed and flared sending off sparks of orange, blue, and red as she flew. It only took her a moment to reach Recoome and start attacking. Her feet and fists flew as quickly as she could move them. Recoome merely twisted his body and tilted his head this way and that dodging all her attacks with the simplest of ease. "Hold still damn you!" she cried launching a hard kick for Recoome's head.

The large man raised his arm and blocked it with a loud crack. As his grin became a smirk he backhanded her with a thunderous crack. In a flash he charged after her but Sora shot up and came between them and resumed her assault against the large man. As Hotaru regained control of her flight and righted herself she saw Recoome easily dodging and blocking her mother's attempts at attacking him as well. As he blocked a punch aimed for his chest her senses felt Kavar's energy vanish. And then one after another the Ki's in the city began to go as well.

Her eyes widened in fear, sadness, and anger as she felt her people being massacred. A series of loud cracks brought her back to reality and she saw that Recoome had taken to the offensive and was beating Sora around like a ragdoll. "No..." she breathed, barely above a whisper. Her orange aura grew fainter and fainter, slowly fading away into nothing. Her orange irises began to swirl, glowing red symbols apearing within them. The red spread out filling her irises, and then turning her entire eyes red. And then her entire body began to glow red as her orange aura swirled to life around her again.

She threw her arms and head back and let out a scream of anger, sadness, and pain as her aura flared massively and hid her completely from view. Recoome stopped his attack on Sora and both fighters turned to look at Hotaru. Her aura swirled and shifted forming a swirling orange sphere around her. Red lines began to snake across it forming a pattern, some sort of symbol, and Sora's eyes widened in understanding. "The seal... she's breaking it!"

The symbol finished forming around her aura and began to glow a fierce red and slowly shifted to blue and then to white and then shattered sending sparks out about her. As the seal shattered her aura settled and she became visable once more. Hotaru's appearance had changed slightly, much like her mother's had. She had the same tiger like stripes under her eyes and her silver hair was tinted blue, but her eyes were a solid red giving her a far more imposing appearance. Her natural orange aura was still present but far thicker and brighter than before.

She tilted her head up slightly and gazed up at Recoome. The large man reached up and activated his scouter. It began to beep quickly is gauged her power. A moment later it beeped twice and displayed it's final reading, 1,241,936. Recoome frowned and then, with a flash charged down toward her. His fist met her outstretched arm with a loud crack and a bright red flash. He could see, at this close range, that her injuries had vanished.

Hotaru struggled slightly to hold back his fist as she glared at him. Her power still wasn't quite as high as his, but it was close enough that she could win. She released his fist, pulled back, and then launched a kick for his head. Recoome started to move but Hotaru's foot reached his head first and impacted with a loud crack that sent him sailing out over the lake. With a grin and a flash of orange she charged after him. Before he'd recovered from the blow, or the shock that it had actually hurt, Hotaru reached him and began pounding on him. 

She put everything she had into each and every punch and kick as she drove him further and further away from the city. She went to land a kick to his chest but he finally recovered and deflected her foot away before pounding his fist into her stomach and doubling her over. Then he brought his knee up and slammed it into her face before punching her in the chest at a downward angle which sent her hurtling toward the ground. She slammed into the beach a moment later throwing sand everywhere before vanishing beneath it.

A second later she came surging back out again throwing the sand everywhere once more. She reached him and threw a hard right hook at his face which connected with a loud crack. He recovered faster this time and the two began to trade quick thunderous blows in the night sky. Sora watched for a moment in awe. This had never happened before, having two Tanarians with the ability to transform at the same time... And her daughter's power... She shook it off and then shot in toward the battle. She may not be able to do much, but she could at least give her daughter a hand.

She reached the two fighters and began her own attack against Recoome as well. The large alien managed to dodge or block most of Sora's attacks but doing so left him open to Hotaru's assault. He quickly began losing the edge he'd had over the past few hours of fighting. A sudden hard knee to her stomach doubled Sora over and then Recoome slammed his elbow into her back sending her plummeting down into the beach.

Hotaru took advantage of the opening in his defenses and slammed her foot into his head knocking him away again and charged after him. "It's time to put and end to this Recoome!" she cried as she charged toward him.

The large alien pulled to a stop and glared at her. "Fine by me! It's time you die!" He crossed his arms over his chest and let out a loud growl like sound. His aura flared up around him as the light in the area seemed to be pulled toward his body. "How about I show you the move I was about to use back on Namek?" he called laughing and pulling his legs up. "Recoome! Ultimate!"

"No you don't!" Hotaru yelled pouring on more speed, her orange aura flaring out larger as she charged him.

Recoome grinned as she neared. Just as she was about to reach him he threw his arms and head back and stretched his legs out again. "Bomber!" he cried. There was a thunderous crack and flash of white and then a massive explosion of Ki washed out in every direction for nearly a mile. The blast tore up the planet below them, churned the waters of the lake, and completely engulfed Hotaru.

Sora pulled herself back up out of the beach just in time to see the attack begin. As the wave of Ki reached out she caught a glimpse of Yamcha near-by. "Damn!" In a burst of orange she moved to where her unconcious son-in-law lay and put up a hasty Ki barrier as the energy reached them. For a moment she couldn't hear anything over the roar of the attack but then her daughter's screams reached her ears. However they weren't screams of pain but of determination. Focusing as best she could Sora looked up through the swirling energy and saw Hotaru still plowing head first through it toward Recoome, the energy lashing at her and shreading her clothes and cutting into her skin.

There was another loud crack as Hotaru's fist connected with Recoome's head sending the large man sailing backwards and ending his attack. Sora slumped to the ground tired and weak. She glowed and then reverted back to normal. "Come on Hotaru..." she said softly looking up into the sky. "You can do this." Her eyes were diverted from the battle a second later by a low groan. Turning she saw Yamcha starting to stir again.

She helped him sit up, her eyes glancing back up toward the battle every few seconds. After another groan the Human opened his eyes slowly. "Ugh... Sora?" He reached up and rubbed his head. "Is the fight over? Where's Hotaru?"

"It's not over yet." Sora said. "Hotaru's still fighting." 

She looked off toward the battle again and Yamcha followed her line of sight. He couldn't see anything more than flashes and blurs of light. Then the cracks began sounding over the area as well which showed how far away the battle actually was. "How... her power..."

"She broke the seal." Sora explained. "She transformed."

Suddenly there was a bright flash of light and a resounding crack. A form streaked down through the sky and then slammed into the forest on the opposite side of the lake. Hotaru came floating down near the center of the lake a moment later panting heavily, blood still running down her arms. Both she and Recoome were worn from the fight, that much was obvious. Recoome had used up a lot of energy with his earlier attack and Hotaru had used up a lot getting through it.

Hotaru was about to move in when suddenly a volley of red-purple Ki blasts began surging out of the forest. She began dodging around the blasts which seemed to be coming out randomly and wildly. A moment later Recoome came charging up out of the forest as well, arms outstretched, energy blasts shooting forth at random. She charged down toward him dodging blasts as she went. She was almost on him when he opened his mouth and fired a stream of energy that completely engulfed her.

Suddenly Hotaru came charging up from below him and slammed her outstretched arms into his stomach. Recoome's attacks came to a stop and as the energy stream faded, so did her after image. The large alien's eyes bulged out of his head as she drove him up a few hundred feet into the air before flipping out from under him and launching up above him. "Inryoku Chikara!" she called thrusting her arms down. There was a crack as the blast slammed into Recoome's back and then drove him down into the forest once more.

"What's that power?" Yamcha wondered turning to look to the west.

Sora followed his gaze and soon sensed the power as well. "Oh no... he must have been woken by the battle... I have to keep him away from the fight, he could get hurt..." A second later Yamcha realized what Sora was talking about when he saw a large form pass into the light of the moon. Sora tried to lift into the air but couldn't muster the energy.

Hotaru was about to charge a Ki blast to launch at Recoome when she heard a loud screech echo through the air. She turned from where the alien had landed to look off into the west. "Huh? Oh, Max! Go back, it's dangerous out here!" she called. Suddenly Hotaru's eyes widened in pain and shock. Recoome had taken advantage of her distraction and charged back up slamming his large fist into her stomach catching her completely off guard and doubling her over. He then backhanded her spinning her around before slamming a foot into her back, sending her into the beach only a few yards from Sora and Yamcha.

Yamcha grimaced and tried to shut out the sound as the large Dovi let out a shrill and angry sounding screech unlike anything the Human had ever heard before. His eyes widened as Max surged straight for Recoome, the large alien holding his hands over his eyes and his eyes shut tight. Suddenly was gone from Yamcha's view as the Dovi passed overhead. When he moved out of Yamcha's field of view Recoome was gone.

"He... ate him?" Hotaru wondered as she pulled herself out of the ground holding her left arm which hung limply at her side. Max arced around in a circle above them a couple of times and then dove down and landed at the edge of the water pulling his wings in close. He lowered his head and gazed at the three injured fighters making an almost purring noise.

The three of them glanced at each other and then Yamcha fell back over and started laughing, wincing at the pain that lanced through him as he did. Hotaru grinned and moved over to him and patted him on the head and then scratched behind one of his ears. "Good boy..." she said, trying not to laugh as well. "Not exactly how I expected to win..." She shook her head and was about to say more when she felt two high powers nearing them quickly and remembered the others Recoome had come with.

She lifted into the air quickly and saw them coming. "All done then Recoome?" one of them called.

Hotaru smirked. "Yeah, his all done! And so are you!" She thrust her good arm forward sending the last of her energy toward them in a large wave. The two didn't have time to react before the blast overtook them. She wavered in the sky as the attack died and then fell toward the ground reverting to normal as she did. Max moved forward a little and she landed with a soft thud on his back.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Tanarian Palace, communications room:

"You're kidding!" Bardock cried laughing. "Recoome was eaten!"

"Ya..." Hotaru said shaking her head. "I blacked out at that point, but Max flew me, mom, and Yamcha back to the palace and the medics took care of us from there." She sighed. "Anyway, we were kind of hoping the Dragon's powers could reach out here..."

Krillin nodded. "I don't think it'll be a problem. We can work it in with our wish somehow..."

"What happened down there anyway?" Yamcha asked.

Bardock shook his head. "A pair of Nameks a lot stronger than Piccolo, and Gohan and I became Super Sai-jins."

"You're kidding!" Hotaru cried, the entire room turning to look having heard Bardock's statement.

"No. We're both Super Sai-jins now as well."

"Wow... three transformations in one day..." Yamcha said recovering. "Any signs of Goku yet?"

"No, not yet." Gohan said sadly. Then he looked up again. "And you guys should have invited us all to the wedding!"

"Sorry kiddo." Hotaru said smiling. "We'll bring the pictures when we come for a visit. Which..."

"Princess Hotaru." A voice interrupted. She turned and looked and saw one of the medics that had been there when she'd woken up standing in the doorway. She cast a glance toward Yamcha, shrugged, and went over to speak with him. Yamcha and those on Earth remained silent as they watched the two talk for a moment, Hotaru's eyes opening in suprise after a moment, and then she glanced back at Yamcha leaving the Human completely puzzled.

A moment later the medic left and Hotaru turned around smiling. She ran back across the room and litterally jumped onto him wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. He raised an eye brow at her completely lost as to why she was acting like she was. He was about to say something when she beat him to it. "You don't have to worry about fighting me if you beat Akira in the tournament once it resumes. The doctors just suggested I pull from the competition."

Yamcha blinked. "Why?"

"They don't want to risk the baby getting hurt."

-End Saga- 


End file.
